Vi 


l-i-^ 


tr 


PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 


©lottgTt'B  'gxmisX^txon. 


ABRIDGED   AND   ANNOTATED  FOR   SCHOOLS 


EDWIN   GINN. 


WITH  HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTIONS 


V.   F.  ALLEN. 


BOSTON : 

GINN    &    COMPANY. 

1890. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  m  the  year  1886,  by 

EDWIN  GINN, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 

EDUCATION  DEPT. 


Typography  by  J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


Pbbsswobk  by  Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface v 

Life  of  Plutarch    .......  vii 

Themistocles        ........  1 

Pericles  .         .         .         ....         .         .  38 

Alexander  .         .         .         .         .     '     .         .         „         .  67 

coriolanus       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  117 

Fabius 171 

Sertorius          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  211 

C^SAR .  250 

Index  to  Notes       .......  327 

Pronunciation  of  Proper  Names         .         .         .         .331 


M69898 


PREFACE. 


BY  permission  of  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  Clough's  trans- 
lation of  the  Lives,  with  the  exception  of  about  half 
a  dozen  lines,  has  been  followed  in  this  edition. 

The  historical  unity  has  been  steadily  kept  in  mind,  and 
it  is  believed  that  nothing  of  importance  has  been  sacri- 
ficed in  the  omissions. 

While  there  may  be  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  the  man  makes  the  epoch  or  the  epoch  the  man, 
it  will  be  generally  agreed  that  the  personality  of  a  great 
man  will  always  prove  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
useful  centres  around  which  to  group  historical  events. 

A  few  brief  notes  have  been  given,  supplying  such 
information  only  as  may  not  be  readily  gathered  from  the 
text.  In  looking  up  special  information  on  any  point,  one 
is  apt  to  get  too  much  interested  in  the  matter,  and  so 
annotate  much  more  fully  than  is  necessary  for  the  under- 
standing of  the  text.  Notes  are  often,  in  this  way,  more 
harmful  than  helpful,  as  they  tend,  to  draw  the  pupil's 
attention  from  the  proper  object  of  study. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  mention  that  Plutarch  rarely  ever 
gives  a  date,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  in  his 
mind  dates  were  of  very  little  importance  compared  with 
the  facts  themselves. 

In  our  study  of  History  at  the  present  time  we  seem  to 
have  inverted  the  order,  requiring  our  children  to  learn 
a  great  multiplicity  of  dates  instead  of  impressing  upon 
them  a  few  great  facts. 


VI  PREFACE. 

Plutarch  possesses  a  remarkable  faculty  of  seizing  upon 
the  strong  points  of  a  character,  and  presenting  them  in 
such  a  calm  and  candid  way  as  to  leave  a  very  vivid  im- 
pression upon  the  mind. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  book  may  lead  many  to  read  his 
complete  works. 

As  to  the  value  of  such  reading  and  the  influence  it  had 
on  his  own  mind,  we  are  fortunate  in  being  able  to  pre- 
sent Plutarch's  experience  as  given  in  his  Timoleon. 

"  It  was  for  the  sake  of  others  that  I  first  commenced 
writing  biographies  ;  but  I  find  myself  proceeding  and 
attaching  myself  to  it  for  my  own  ;  the  virtues  of  these 
great  men  serving  me  as  a  sort  of  looking-glass,  in  which 
I  may  see  how  to  adjust  and  adorn  my  own  life.  Indeed, 
it  can  be  compared  to  nothing  but  daily  living  and  asso- 
ciating together;  we  receive,  as  it  were,  in  our  inquiry, 
and  entertain  each  successive  guest,  view 

Their  stature  and  their  qualities, 

and  select  from  their  actions  all  that  is  noblest  and  wor- 
thiest to  know. 

Ah,  and  what  greater  pleasure  could  one  have  ? 

or,  what  more  effective  means  to  one's  moral  improve- 
ment? My  method  is,  by  the  study  of  history,  and 
by  the  familiarity  acquired  in  writing,  to  habituate  my 
memory  to  receive  and  retain  images  of  the  best  and  wor- 
thiest characters.  I  thus  am  enabled  to  free  myself  from 
any  ignoble,  base,  or  vicious  impressions,  contracted  from 
the  contagion  of  ill  company  that  I  may  be  unavoidably 
engaged  in,  by  the  remedy  of  turning  my  thoughts  in  a 
happy  and  calm  temper  to  view  these  noble  examples." 

E.  G. 


LIFE    OF   PLUTAECH. 


Abridged  from  Clough's  Edition. 


ri  iHE  plain  facts  of  Plutarch's  own  life  may  be  given  in 
-^  a  very  short  compass.  He  was  born,  probably,  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius,  about  a.d.  45  or  50.  His  native  place 
was  CJiaeronea,  in  Boeotia,  where  his  family  had  long  been 
settled  and  was  of  good  standing  and  local  reputation. 
He  studied  at  Athens  under  a  philosopher  named  Ammo- 
nius.  He  visited  Egypt.  Later  in  life,  some  time  be- 
fore A.D.  90,  he  was  at  Rome  "  on  public  business,"  a 
deputation,  perhaps,  from  Chaeronea.  He  continued  there 
long  enough  to  give  lectures  which  attracted  attention. 

To  Greece  and  to  Chseronea  he  returned,  and  appears  to 
have  spent  in  the  little  town,  which  he  was  loth  "  to  make 
less  by  the  withdrawal  of  even  one  inhabitant,"  the  remain- 
der of  his  life.  He  took  part  in  the  public  business  of  the 
place  and  the  neighborhood.  He  was  archon  in  the  town, 
and  officiated  many  years  as  a  priest  of  Apollo,  apparently 
at  Delphi. 

He  was  married,  and  was  the  father  of  at  least  five  chil- 
dren, of  whom  two  sons,  at  any  rate,  survived  to  manhood. 
His  greatest  work,  his  Biographies,  and  several  of  his 
smaller  writings,  belong  to  this  later  period  of  his  life, 
under  the  reign  of  Trajan.  Whether  he  survived  to  the 
time  of  Hadrian  is  doubtful.  All  that  is  certain  is  that 
he  lived  to  be  old. 

A  remarkable  anecdote  is  related  in  his  discourse  on 


Vlii  LIFE  OF  PLUTARCH. 

Inquisitiveness.  Among  other  precepts  for  avoiding  or 
curing  the  fault,  "  We  should  habituate  ourselves,"  he 
says,  "  when  letters  are  brought  to  us,  not  to  open  them 
instantly  and  in  a  hurry,  not  to  bite  the  strings  in  two,  as 
many  people  will,  if  they  do  not  succeed  at  once  with  their 
fingers ;  when  a  messenger  comes,  not  to  run  to  meet  him ; 
not  to  jump  up,  when  a  friend  says  he  has  something  new 
to  tell  us ;  rather,  if  he  has  some  good  or  useful  advice  to 
give  us.  Once  when  I  was  lecturing  at  Rome,  Rusticus, 
whom  Domitian  afterwards,  out  of  jealousy  of  his  repu- 
tation, put  to  death,  was  one  of  my  hearers;  and  while 
I  was  going  on,  a  soldier  came  in  and  brought  him  a  letter 
from  the  Emperor.  And  when  every  one  was  silent,  and 
I  stopped  in  order  to  let  him  read  the  letter,  he  declined 
to  do  so,  and  put  it  aside  until  I  had  finished  and  the 
audience  withdrew;  an  example  of  serious  and  dignified 
behavior  which  excited  much  admiration." 

His  wife  was  Timoxena,  the  daughter  of  Alexion.  The 
circumstances  of  his  domestic  life  receive  their  best  illus- 
tration from  his  letter  addressed  to  this  wife,  on  the  loss  of 
their  one  daughter,  born  to  them,  it  would  appear,  late  in 
life,  long  after  her  brothers.  "  Plutarch  to  his  wife,  greet- 
ing: The  messengers  you  sent  to  announce  our  child's 
death,  apparently  missed  the  road  to  Athens.  I  was  told 
about  my  daughter  on  reaching  Tanagra.  Everything 
relating  to  the  funeral  I  suppose  to  have  been  already 
performed ;  my  desire  is  that  all  these  arrangements  may 
have  been  so  made,  as  will  now  and  in  the  future  be  most 
consoling  to  yourself.  If  there  is  anything  which  you 
have  wished  to  do  and  have  omitted,  awaiting  my  opinion, 
and  which  you  think  would  be  a  relief  to  you,  it  shall  be 
attended  to,  apart  from  all  excess  and  superstition,  which  no 


LIFE   OF  PLUTARCH.  ix 

one  would  like  less  than  yourself.     Only,  my  wife,  let  ma 
hope,  that  you  will  maintain  both  me  and  yourself  within* 
the  reasonable  limits  of  grief.   What  our  loss  really  amount* 
to,  I  know  and  estimate  for  myself.      But  should  I  find' 
your  distress  excessive,  my  trouble  on  your  account  will ' 
be  greater  than  on  that  of  our  loss.     I  am  not  a  '  stock  or 
stone,'  as  you,  my  partner  in  the  care  of  our  numerous 
children,  every  one  of  whom  we  have  ourselves  brought  up 
at  home,  can  testify.     And  this  child,  a  daughter,  born  to 
your  wishes  after  four  sons,  and  affording  me  the  oppor- 
tunity of  recording  your  name,  I  am  well  aware  was  a 
special  object  of  affection." 

The  sweet  temper  and  the  pretty  ways  of  the  child,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  say,  make  the  privation  peculiarly  painful.  "  Yet 
why,"  he  says,  *'  should  we  forget  the  reasonings  we  have 
often  addressed  to  others,  and  regard  our  present  pain  as 
obliterating  and  effacing  our  former  joys  ?  "  Those  who 
had  been  present  had  spoken  to  him  in  terms  of  admiration 
of  the  calmness  and  simplicity  of  his  wife's  behavior.  The 
funeral  had  been  devoid  of  any  useless  and  idle  sumptu- 
osity,  and  her  own  house  of  all  display  of  extravagant 
lamentation.  This  was  indeed  no  wonder  to  him,  who 
knew  how  much  her  plain  and  unluxurious  living  had  sur- 
prised his  philosophical  friends  and  visitors,  and  who  well 
remembered  her  composure  under  the  previous  loss  of  the 
eldest  of  her  children,  and  again,  "  when  our  beautiful 
Charon  left  us."  "  I  recollect,"  he  says,  "  that  some  ac- 
quaintance from  abroad  were  coming  up  with  me  from  the 
sea  when  the  tidings  of  the  child's  decease  were  brought,  and 
they  followed  with  our  other  friends  to  the  house ;  but  the 
perfect  order  and  tranquillity  they  found  there  made  them 
believe,  as  I  afterwards  was  informed  they  had  related. 


X  LIFE  OF   PLUTARCH. 

that  nothing  had  happened,  and  that  the  previous  intelli- 
gence had  been  a  mistake." 

The  Consolation  (so  the  letter  is  named)  closes  with 
expressions  of  belief  in  the  immortality  of  each  human 
soul. 

He  seems  to  have  busied  himself  about  all  the  little 
matters  of  the  town,  and  to  have  made  it  a  point  to  under- 
take the  humblest  duties.  After  relating  the  story  of 
Epaminontias  giving  dignity  to  the  office  of  Chief  Scav- 
enger, "  And  I,  too,  for  that  matter,"  he  says,  "  am  often  a 
jest  to  my  neighbors,  when  they  see  me,  as  they  frequently 
do,  in  public,  occupied  on  very  similar  duties ;  but  the  story 
told  about  Antisthenes  comes  to  my  assistance.  When 
some  one  expressed  surprise  at  his  carrying  home  some 
pickled  fish  from  market  in  his  own  hands,  It  is,  he 
answered,  for  myself.  Conversely,  when  I  am  reproached 
with  standing  by  and  watching  while  tiles  are  measured 
out,  and  stone  and  mortar  brought  up.  This  service^  I  say, 
is  not  for  myself^  it  is  for  my  country." 

Even  in  these,  the  comparatively  few,  more  positive  and 
matter-of-fact  passages  of  allusion  and  anecdote,  there  is 
enough  to  bring  up  something  of  a  picture  of  a  happy 
domestic  life,  half  academic,  half  municipal,  passed  among 
affectionate  relatives  and  well-known  friends,  inclining 
most  to  literary  and  moral  studies,  yet  not  cut  off  from  the 
duties  and  avocations  of  the  citizen. 

In  reading  Plutarch,  the  following  points  should  be 
remembered.  He  is  a  moralist  rather  than  a  historian. 
His  interest  is  less  for  politics  and  the  changes  of  empires, 
and  much  more  for  personal  character  and  individual 
actions  and  motives  to  action;  duty  performed  and  re- 
warded :  arroqjance  chastised,  hasty  anger  corrected ;  hu- 


LIFE  OF   PLUTARCH.  xi 

manity,  fair  dealing,  and  generosity  triumphing  in  the 
visible,  or  relying  on  the  invisible  world.  His  mind  in  his 
biographic  memoirs  is  continually  running  on  the  Aris- 
totelian Ethics  and  the  high  Platonic  theories,  which 
formed  the  religion  of  the  educated  population  of  his 
time. 

The  time  itself  is  a  second  point ;  that  of  Nerva,  Trajan, 
and  Hadrian ;  the  commencement  of  the  best  and  happiest 
age  of  the  great  Roman  imperial  period.  The  social  system, 
spreading  over  all  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  of 
which  Greece  and  Italy  were  the  centres,  and  to  which  the 
East  and  the  furthest  known  West  were  brought  into 
relation,  had  then  reached  its  highest  mark  of  advance  and 
consummation.  The  laws  of  Rome  and  the  philosophy  of 
Greece  were  powerful  from  the  Tigris  to  the  British 
islands.  It  was  the  last  great  era  of  Greek  and  Roman 
literature.  Egictetus  was  teaching  in  Greek  the  virtues 
which  Marcus  Aurelius  was  to  illustrate  as  emperor.  Dio 
Chrysostom  and  Arrian  were  recalling  the  memory  of  the 
most  famous  Attic  rhetoricians  and  historians,  and  while 
Plutarch  wrote  in  Chseronea,  Tacitus,  Pliny  the  Younger, 
Martial^  and  Juyenal  were  writing  at  Rome.  It  may  be 
said  too,  perhaps,  not  untruly,  that  the  Latin,  of  the  metro- 
politan writers,  less  faithfully  represents  the  general  spirit 
and  character  of  the  time,  than  what  came  from  the  pen  of 
a  simple  Boeotian  provincial,  Avriting  in  a  more  universal 
language,  and  unwarped  by  the  strong  local  reminiscences 
of  the  old  home  of  the  Senate  and  the  Republic.  Tacitus 
and  Juvenal  have  more,  perhaps,  of  the  "  antique  Roman  " 
than  of  the  citizen  of  the  great  Mediterranean  Empire. 
The  evils  of  the  imperial  government,  as  felt  in  the  capital 
city,  are  depicted  in  the  Roman   prose   and   verse    more 


J"<> 


xu  LIFE  OF  PLUTARCH. 

vividly  and  more  vehemently  than  suits  a  general  repre- 
sentation of  the  state  of  the  imperial  world,  even  under  the 
rule  of  Domitian  himself. 

It  is,  at  any  rate,  the  serener  aspect  and  the  better  era 
that  the  life  and  writings  of  Plutarch  reflect.  His  language 
is  that  of  a  man  happy  in  himself  and  in  what  is  around 
him.  His  natural  cheerfulness  is  undiminished,  his  easy 
and  joyous  simplicity  is  unimpaired,  his  satisfactions  are 
not  saddened  or  imbittered  by  any  overpowering  recollec- 
tions of  years  passed  under  the  immediate  j)i'esent  terrors 
of  imperial  wickedness.  Though  he  also  could  remember 
Nero,  and  had  been  a  man  when  Domitian  was  an  emperor, 
the  utmost  we  can  say  is,  that  he  shows,  perhaps,  the 
instructed  happiness  of  one  who  had  lived  into  good  times 
out  of  evil,  and  that  the  very  vigor  of  his  content  proves 
that  its  roots  were  fixed  amongst  circumstances  not  too 
indulgent  or  favorable. 

Much  has  been  said  of  Plutarch's  inaccuracy ;  and  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  he  is  careless  about  numbers,  and 
occasionally  contradicts  his  own  statements.  A  greater 
fault,  perhaps,  is  his  passion  for  anecdote ;  he  cannot  for- 
bear from  repeating  stories,  the  improbability  of  which  he 
is  the  first  to  recognize;  which,  nevertheless,  by  mere 
repetition,  leave  unjust  impressions.  He  is  unfair  in  this 
way  to  Demosthenes  and  to  Pericles,  against  the  latter  of 
whom,  however,  he  doubtless  inherited  the  prejudices  which 
Plato  handed  down  to  the  philosophers. 

It  is  true,  also,  that  his  unhistorical  treatment  of  the 
subjects  of  his  biography  makes  him  often  unsatisfactory 
and  imperfect  in  the  portraits  he  draws.  Much,  of  course, 
in  the  public  lives  of  statesmen  can  find  its  only  explana- 
tionlin  their  political  position )  and  of  this  Plutarch  often 


LIFE   OF  PLUTARCH.  xiii 

knows  and  thinks  little.  So  far  as  the  researches  of  modern 
historians  have  succeeded  in  really  recovering  a  knowledge 
'  of  relations  of  this  sort,  so  far,  undoubtedly,  these  biog- 
raphies stand  in  need  of  their  correction.  Yet  in  the  un- 
certainty which  must  attend  all  modern  restorations,  it  is 
agreeable,  and  surely,  also,  profitable,  to  recur  to  portraits 
drawn  ere  new  thoughts  and  views  had  occupied  the  civil- 
ized world,  without  reference  to  such  disputable  grounds 
of  judgment,  simply  upon  the  broad  principles  of  the 
ancient  moral  code  of  right  and  wrong. 

Making  some  little  deductions  in  cases  such  as  those  that 
have  been  mentioned,  allowing  for  a  little  over-love  of 
story,  and  for  some  considerable  quasi-religious  hostility  to 
the  democratic  leaders  who  excited  the  scorn  of  Plato,  if 
we  bear  in  mind,  also,  ^Jhat  in  narratives  like  that  of 
Theseus]  he  himself  confesses  his  inability  to  disengage 
fact  from  fable,  it  may  be  said  that  in  Plutarch's  Lives  the 
readers  of  all  ages  will  find  instructive  and  faithful  biog- 
raphies of  the  great  men  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Or,  at  any 
rate,  if  in  Plutarch's  time  it  was  too  late  to  think  of  really 
faithful  biographies,  we  have  here  the  faithful  record  of 
the  historical  tradition  of  his  age.  This  is  what,  in  the 
second  century  of  our  era,  Greeks  and  Romans  loved  to 
believe  about  their  warriors  and  statesmen  of  the  past.  As 
a  picture,  at  least,  of  the  best  Greek  and  Roman  moral 
views  and  moral  judgments,  as  a  presentation  of  the  results 
of  Greek  and  Roman  moral  thought,  delivered  not  under 
the  pressure  of  calamity,  but  as  they  existed  in  ordinary 
times,  and  actuated  plain-living  people  in  country  places 
in  their  daily  life,  Plutarch's  writings  are  of  indisputable 
value ;  and  it  may  be  said,  also,  that  Plutarch's  character, 
as  depicted  in  them,  possesses  a  natural  charm  of  pleasant- 


XIV  LIFE   OF   PLUTARCH. 

ness  and  amiability  which  it  is  not  easy  to  match  among 
all  extant  classical  authors. 

The  present  translation  is  a  revision  of  that  published  at 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  with  a  life  of  Plutarch 
written  by  Dryden. 

Theodorus  Gaza,  a  man  learned  in  the  Latin  tongue, 
and  a  great  restorer  of  the  Greek,  who  lived  above  two 
hundred  years  ago,  deser\res  to  have  his  suffrage  set  down 
in  words  at  length ;  for  the  rest  have  only  commended 
Plutarch  more  than  any  single  author,  but  he  has  extolled 
him  above  all  together. 

'Tis  said  that,  having  this  extravagant  question  put  to 
him  by  a  friend,  that  if  learning  must  suffer  a  general 
shipwreck,  and  he  had  only  his  choice  left  him  of  preserv- 
ing one  author,  who  should  be  the  man  he  would  preserve, 
he  answered,  Plutarch;  and  probably  might  give  this 
reason,  that  in  saving  him,  he  should  secure  the  best  col- 
lection of  them  all. 

The  epigram  of  Agathias  deserves  also  to  be  remem- 
bered. This  author  flourished  about  the  year  five  hun- 
dred, in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Justinian.  The  verses 
are  extant  in  the  Anthologia,  and  with  the  translation  of 
them  I  will  conclude  the  praises  of  our  author ;  having 
first  admonished  you,  that  they  are  supposed  to  be  written 
on  a  statue  erected  by  the  Romans  to  his  memory. 

Chseronean  Plutarch,  to  thy  deathless  praise 
Does  martial  Rome  this  grateful  statue  raise, 
Because  both  Greece  and  she  thy  fame  have  shared, 
(Their  heroes  written,  and  their  lives  compared). 
But  thou  thyself  couldst  never  write  thy  own ; 
Their  lives  have  parallels,  but  thine  has  none. 


PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 


PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 


oJ«<o 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THEMISTOCLES. 

Greece  is  one  of  the  smallest  countries  in  Europe,  and 
one  of  the  most  famous.  The  whole  of  its  territory  is  not 
so  large  as  the  State  of  Maine ;  but  there  has  never  been  a 
nation  that  has  surpassed  it  in  art,  philosophy,  literature, 
and  warlike  deeds.  So  we  see  that  greatness  does  iDt 
depend  upon  size. 

Greece  is  a  peninsula,  running  from  north  to  south,  with 
a  great  many  deep  bays  and  excellent  harbors.  Particu- 
larly there  is  one  place  where  two  bays,  the  one  to  the 
east,  the  other  to  the  west,  come  so  near  each  other  that 
there  is  only  a  narrow  isthmus  to  connect  the  peninsula  at 
the  south  with  the  mainland  at  the  north.  Just  at  this 
isthmus  was  situated  the  famous  city  of  Corinth,  and  the 
peninsula  at  the  south  was  called  the  Peloponnesus^  or 
Island  of  Pelops.  Greece  is  a  very  mountainous  country, 
and  is  divided  by  the  mountain  chains  into  a  great  many 
little  valleys.  In  each  of  these  valleys  was  a  city,  and 
each  city  was  wholly  independent  of  all  others ;  sometimes 
the  neighboring  cities  were  united  into  a  kind  of  league, 
but  even  in  this  case  each  little  city  could  do  about  as  it 
pleased.  There  were,  however,  two  cities  which  had  a 
larger   territory  than  others,  and  greater   power.     These 


2  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

were  Sparta,  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  Athens,  north  of 
the  isthmus.  Of  course  these  two  cities  were  rivals  and 
enemies,  and  they  were  at  the  head  of  two  rival  and  hos- 
tile parties. 

Sparta  and  Athens  were  very  different  in  character  and 
in  institutions.  Spfajrtaiwas  governed  by  an  aristocracy  of 
soldiers.  The  Spartan's  car,ed  nothing  for  art  or  literature, 
and  very  li; tlo  ior  hurbarjity,  All  their  ambition  was  for 
power  and  military  glory;  and  when  they  had  gained 
power,  they  were  very  cruel  and  unjust  in  using  it.  The 
Athenians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  democratic.  Every 
citizen  had  equal  rights  in  the  government,  and  they  were 
distinguished  for  intelligence  and  culture.  It  was  the 
common  people  of  Athens  for  whom  their  noble  works  of 
art  and  literature  were  designed. 

But  the  hostility  of  Athens  and  Sparta  did  not  break 
out  until  a  later  date.  In  early  times  Sparta  was  acknowl- 
edged by  every  one  to  be  the  most  powerful  city  in  Greece, 
and  to  have  a  right  to  take  the  lead  in  all  common  enter- 
prises. And  this  acknowledged  leadership  of  Sparta  con- 
tinued until  the  most  famous  of  these  common  enterprises, 
the  union  of  the  Greek  cities  to  resist  the  Persian  inva- 
sion. 

The  Persian  wars  began  about  five  hundred  years  before 
Christ.  Persia  was  at  this  time  the  greatest  empire  in  the 
world,  and  the  greatest  empire  too  that  there  had  ever 
been,  as  it  embraced  all  of  Asia  that  lay  west  of  Hindo- 
stan,  and  also  Egypt  in  Africa,  and  Thrace  in  Europe. 
Thrace  had  been  very  recently  conquered  by  the  Persian 
king  Darius,  and  both  here  and  in  Asia  Minor  there  were 
a  number  of  Greek  cities,  which  had  been  made  subject  to 
Persia.     But  the   Greeks  were  used   to  governing  them- 


TIIEMTSTOCLES.  3 

selves,  and  they  did  not  like  the  despotic  rule  of  Persia. 
In  the  year  500  the  Ionic  cities  of  Asia  Minor  broke  out  in 
a  revolt,  and  were  aided  by  the  Athenians,  for  Athens  too 
was  an  Ionian  city.  It  did  not  take  Darius  long  to  sup- 
press this  revolt  and  reconquer  the  cities  of  Asia;  and 
then  he  determined  to  punish  the  Athenians  for  the  assist- 
ance they  had  sent. 

The  great  army  sent  by  Darius  against  Athens  came  in 
the  year  490,  crossed  the  jEgean  Sea,  and  landed  on  the 
coast  a  few  miles  from  Athens.  It  did  not  seem  possible 
that  the  little  city  of  Athens  could  resist  the  forces  of  this 
mighty  empire.  They  had  but  a  small  army  of  10,000 
men,  with  only  1,000  auxiliaries  from  Platsea.  But  they 
were  brave  and  well  disciplined,  and  they  had  a  skilful 
general,  named  Miltiades.  The  little  army,  fighting  for 
their  homes  and  their  liberties,  completely  routed  the  great 
army,  and  forced  them  to  take  their  ships  and  go  back  to 
Asia.  This  was  the  famous  battle  of  Marathon.  So  com- 
pletely were  the  Persians  beaten,  that  it  was  ten  years 
before  they  came  back  again ;  and  in  the  meantime  Darius 
had  died,  and  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Xerxes. 
Miltiades  too  was  dead,  and  the  great  man  in  Greece  was 
now  Themistocles. 


PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 


THEMISTOCLES. 


n^HE  birth  of  Themistocles  was  somewhat  too  obscure 
-■-  to  do  him  honor.  His  father,  Neocles,  was  not  of  the 
distinguished  people  of  Athens,  and  by  his  mother's  side, 
as  it  is  reported,  he  was  base-born. 

It  is  confessed  by  all  that  from  his  youth  he  was  of  a 
vehement  and  impetuous  nature,  of  a  quick  apprehension, 
and  a  strong  and  aspiring  bent  for  action  and  great  affairs. 
The  holidays  and  intervals  in  his  studies  he  did  not  spend 
in  play  or  idleness,  as  other  children,  but  would  be  always 
inventing  or  arranging  some  oration  or  declamation  to 
himself,  the  subject  of  which  was  generally  the  excusing 
or  accusing  his  companions,  so  that  his  master  would  often 
say  to  him,  "You,  my  boy,  will  be  nothing  small,  but 
great  one  way  or  other,  for  good  or  else  for  bad."  He 
received  reluctantly  and  carelessly  instructions  given  him 
to  improve  his  manners  and  behavior,  or  to  teach  him  any 
pleasing  or  graceful  accomplishment,  but  whatever  was 
said  to  improve  him  in  sagacity,  or  in  management  of 
affairs,  he  would  give  attention  to,  beyond  one  of  his 
years,  from  confidence  in  his  natural  capacities  for  such 
things.  And  thus  afterwards,  when  in  company  where 
people  engaged  themselves  in  what  are  commonly  thought 
the  liberal  and  elegant  amusements,  he  was  obliged  to  de- 
fend himself  against  the  observations  of  those  who  con- 
sidered themselves  highly  accomplished,  by  the  somewhat 


THEMISTOCLES.  5 

arrogant  retort,  that  he  certainly  could  not  make  use  of 
any  strmged  instrument,  could  only,  were  a  small  and 
obscure  city  put  into  his  hands,  make  it  great  and  glorious. 

In  the  first  essays  of  his  youth  he  was  not  regular  nor 
happily  balanced ;  he  allowed  himself  to  follow  mere  nat- 
ural character,  which,  without  the  control  of  reason  and 
instruction,  is  apt  to  hurry,  upon  either  side,  into  sudden 
and  violent  courses,  and  very  often  to  break  away  and 
determine  upon  the  worst ;  as  he  afterwards  owned  him- 
self, saying,  that  the  wildest  colts  made  the  best  horses,  if 
they  only  get  properly  trained  and  broken  in.  There  are 
those  who  relate  that  to  deter  him  from  public  business, 
and  to  let  him  see  how  the  vulgar  behave  themselves 
towards  their  leaders  when  they  have  at  last  no  farther 
use  of  them,  his  father  showed  him  the  old  galleys  as  they 
lay  forsaken  and  cast  about  upon  the  sea-shore. 

Yet  it  is  evident  that  his  mind  was  early  imbued  wdth 
the  keenest  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  the  most  passion- 
ate ambition  for  distinction.  Eager  from  the  first  to  ob- 
tain the  highest  place,  he  unhesitatingly  accepted  the 
hatred  of  the  most  powerful  and  influential  leaders  in  the 
city,  but  more  especially  of  Aristides,  who  always  opposed 
him.  And  yet  all  this  great  enmity  between  them  arose, 
it  appears,  from  a  very  boyish  occasion,  both  being  at- 
tached to  the  beautiful  Stesilaus  of  Ceos;  ever  after 
which,  they  took  opposite  sides,  and  were  rivals  in  politics. 
Not  but  that  the  incompattbility  of  their  lives  and  man- 
ners may  seem  to  have  increased  the  difference,  for  Aris- 
tides was  of  a  mild  nature,  and  of  a  nobler  sort  of  charac- 
ter, and,  in  public  matters,  acting  always  with  a  view,  not 
to  glory  or  popularity,  but  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
state  consistently  with  safety  and  honesty,  he  was  often 


6  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

forced  to  oppose  Themistocles,  and  interfere  against  the 
increase  of  his  influence,  seeing  him  stirring  up  the  people 
to  all  kinds  of  enterprises,  and  introducing  various  inno- 
vations. For  it  is  said  that  Themistocles  was  so  trans- 
ported with  the  thoughts  of  glory,  and  so  inflamed  with 
the  passion  for  great  actions,  that,  though  he  was  still 
young  when  the  battle  of  Marathon  was  fought  against 
the  Persians,  upon  the  skilful  conduct  of  the  general,  Mil- 
tiades,  being  everywhere  talked  about,  he  was  observed  to 
be  thoughtful,  and  reserved,  alone  by  himself;  he  passed 
the  nights  without  sleep,  and  avoided  all  his  usual  places 
of  recreation,  and  to  those  who  wondered  at  the  change, 
and  inquired  the  reason  of  it,  he  gave  the  answer,  that 
"  the  trophy  of  Miltiades  would  not  let  him  sleep."  And 
when  others  were  of  opinion  that  the  battle  of  Marathon 
would  be  an  end  to  the  war,  Themistocles  thought  that  it 
was  but  the  beginning  of  far  greater  conflicts,  and  for 
these,  to  the  benefit  of  all  Greece,  he  kept  himself  in  con- 
tinual readiness,  and  his  city  also  in  proper  training,  fore- 
seeing, from  far  before,  what  would  happen. 

Battle  of  Marathon:  Darius,  king  of  the  Persians,  attempted  the  conquest 
of  Greece  in  b.c.  490.  For  this  purpose  he  landed  on  the  plain  of  Marathon  an 
army  estimated  at  100,000  men. 

To  oppose  this  vast  force,  10,000  Greeks,  under  the  command  of  Miltiades, 
were  gathered  on  the  hills  above  the  plain. 

For  some  time  it  was  undecided  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  await  re- 
inforcements than  to  engage  with  so  small  a  number,  but  it  was  finally  con- 
cluded to  make  the  attack. 

Forming  in  line  of  battle  and  massing  their  best  troops  in  the  two  wings, 
they  made  a  rapid  charge,  running  down  from  the  mountains. 

The  Persians  were  utterly  amazed  at  the  seeming  folly  of  the  Greeks, 
thinking  that  they  were  rushing  to  instant  death.  At  the  first  shock,  the  Greek 
centre  wavered,  but,  both  wings  being  successful,  the  Persians  were  completely 
routed.  Some  6,000  of  the  Persians  were  slain,  while  the  loss  to  the  Greeks 
was  only  192  men. 

The  victory  was  decisive,  and  Greece  was  saved. 


THEMISTOCLES.  7 

And,  first  of  all,  the  Athenians  being  accustomed  to 
divide  amongst  themselves  the  revenue  proceeding  from 
the  silver  mines  at  Laurium,  he  was  the  only  man  that 
durst  propose  to  the  people  that  this  distribution  should 
cease,  and  that  with  the  money  ships  should  be  built  to 
make  war  against  the  ^ginetans,  who  were  the  most 
flourishing  people  in  all  Greece,  and  by  the  number  of 
their  ships  held  the  sovereignty  of  the  sea;  and  Themis- 
tocles  thus  was  more  easily  able  to  persuade  them,  avoiding 
all  mention  of  danger  from  Darius  or  the  Persians,  who  were 
at  a  great  distance,  and  their  coming  very  uncertain,  and 
at  that  time  not  much  to  be  feared ;  but,  by  a  seasonable 
employment  of  the  emulation  and  anger  felt  by  the  Athe- 
nians against  the  ^ginetans,  he  induced  them  to  prepara- 
tion. So  that  with  this  money  an  hundred  ships  were 
built,  with  which  they  afterwards  fought  against  Xerxes. 
And,  henceforward,  little  by  little,  turning  and  drawing 
the  city  down  towards  the  sea,  in  the  belief,  that,  whereas 
by  land  they  were  not  a  fit  match  for  their  next  neighbors, 
with  their  ships  they  might  be  able  to  repel  the  Persians 
and  command  Greece,  thus,  as  Plato  says,  from  steady 
soldiers  he  tin-ned  them  into  mariners  and  seamen  tossed 
about  the  sea,  and  gave  occasion  for  the  reproach  against 
him,  that  he  took  away  from  the  Athenians  the  spear  and 
the  sliield,  and  bound  them  to  the  bench  and  the  oar. 
These  measures  he  carried  in  the  assembly,  against  the 
opposition  of  Miltiades;  and  whether  or  no  he  hereby 
injured  the  purity  and  true  balance  of  government,  may 
be  a  question  for  philosophers,  but  that  the  deliverance  of 
Greece  came  at  that  time  from  the  sea,  and  that  these  gal- 
leys restored  Athens  again  after  it  was  destroyed,  were 
others  wanting,  Xerxes  himself  would  be  sufiicient  evi- 


8  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

dence,  who,  though  his  land-forces  were  still  entire,  after 
his  defeat  at  sea,  fled  away,  and  thought  himself  no  longer 
able  to  encounter  the  Greeks ;  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  left 
Mardonius  behind  him,  not  out  of  any  hopes  he  could 
have  to  bring  them  into  subjection,  but  to  hinder  them 
from  pursuing  him. 

Themistocles  is  said  to  have  been  eager  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  riches,  according  to  some,  that  he  might  be  the 
more  liberal ;  for  loving  to  sacrifice  often,  and  to  be  splen- 
did in  his  entertainment  of  strangers,  he  required  a  plen- 
tiful revenue ;  yet  he  is  accused  by  others  of  having  been 
parsimonious  and  sordid  to  that  degree  that  he  would  sell 
provisions  which  were  sent  to  him  as  a  present. 

When  he  came  to  the  Olympic  games,  and  was  so  splen- 
did in  his  equipage  and  entertainments,  in  his  rich  tents 
and  furniture,  that  he  strove' to  outdo  Cimon,  he  dis- 
pleased the  Greeks,  who  thought  that  such  magnificence 
might  be  allowed  in  one  who  was  a  young  man  and  of  a 

Olympic  games  :  At  Olympia,  in  South-western  Greece,  once  in  every  four 
years,  from  b.  c.  776  to  a.  d.  390,  the  Greeks  from  all  the  states  and  colonies 
of  the  Hellenic  world  came  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  peaceful  contests  of 
running,  leaping,  wrestling,  boxing,  javelin-throwing,  pitching  the  quoits,  and 
chariot-racing.  Candidates  for  the  honors  of  the  game  were  obliged  to  prove 
that  they  were  of  pure  Hellenic  descent,  and  had  never  been  convicted  of  any 
serious  crime.  They  were  obliged  to  enter  their  names  ten  months  before  the 
day  of  trial,  and  much  of  the  intervening  time  was  spent  in  careful  training 
for  it. 

They  were  in  honor  bound  to  observe  all  the  rules  of  the  game  and  to  take 
no  advantage  of  their  adversaries.  Strict  judges  presided  over  these  contests 
and  awarded  the  simple  crown  of  wild-olive  leaves  to  the  victor.  A  herald 
proclaimed  his  name,  his  parentage,  and  his  country.  On  his  return  home  he 
entered  his  native  city  in  triumph. 

These  gatherings  were  a  great  centre  for  commercial  transactions  and  for 
free  interchange  of  opinions,  tending  to  form  a  bond  of  union  between  the 
various  states.  A  sacred  truce  was  proclaimed  for  the  month  of  these  festivals, 
so  that  all  parties  going  to  or  coming  from  them  were  unmolested.  They 
usually  continued  five  days. 


THEMTSTOCLES.  9 

great  family,  but  was  a  great  piece  of  insolence  in  one  as 
yet  undistinguished,  and  without  title  or  means  for  mak- 
ing any  such  display.  He  was  well  liked  by  the  common 
people,  would  salute  every  particular  citizen  by  his  own 
name,  and  always  show  himself  a  just  judge  in  questions 
of  business  between  private  men ;  he  said  to  Simonides, 
the  poet  of  Ceos,  who  desired  something  of  him,  when  he 
was  commander  of  the  army,  that  was  not  reasonable, 
"Simonides,  you  would  be  no  good  poet  if  you  wrote 
false  measure,  nor  should  I  be  a  good  magistrate  if  for 
favor  I  made  false  law."  And  at  another  time,  laughing 
at  Simonides,. he  said,  that  he  was  a  man  of  little  judg- 
ment to  speak  against  the  Corinthians,  who  were  inhabi- 
tants of  a  great  city,  and  to  have  his  own  picture  drawn 
so  often,  having  so  ill-looking  a  face.  7 

Gradually  growing  to  be  great,  and  winning  the  favor 
of  the  people,  he  at  last  gained  the  day  with  his  faction 
over  that  of  Aristides,  and  procured  his  banishment  by 
ostracism.  When  the  king  of  Persia  was  now  advancing 
against  Greece,  and  the  Athenians  were  in  consultation 
who  should  be  general,  and  many  withdrew  themselves 
of  their  own  accord,  being  terrified  with  the  greatness  of 
the  danger,  there  was  one  Epicydes,  a  popular  speaker, 
son  to  Euphemides,  a  man  of  an  eloquent  tongue,  but  of 
a  faint  heart,  and  a  slave  to  riches,  who  was  desirous  of 
the  command,  and  was  looked  upon  to  be  in  a  fair  way 
to  carry  it  by  the  number  of  votes;  but  Themistocles, 
fearing  that,  if  the  command  should  fall  into  such  hands. 

Ostracism  :  a  right  exercised  by  the  people  of  Athens,  of  banishing 
for  a  time  any  person  whose  services,  rank,  or  wealth  appeared  to  be  dan- 
gerous to  the  liberty  of  his  fellow-citizens,  or  inconsistent  with  their  political 
equality.  The  word  is  derived  from  ostrakon,  an  oyster-shell,  on  which  the 
votes  of  banishment  were  written. 


10  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

all  would  be  lost,  bought  off  Epicydes  and  his  pretensions, 
it  is  said,  for  a  sum  of  money. 

When  the  king  of  Persia  sent  messengers  into  Greece, 
with  an  interpreter,  to  demand  earth  and  water,  as  an 
acknowledgment  of  subjection,  Themistocles,  by  the  con- 
sent of  the  people,  seized  upon  the  interpreter,  and  put 
him  to  death,  for  presuming  to  publish  the  barbarian 
orders  and  decrees  in  the  Greek  language ;  this  is  one  of 
the  actions  he  is  commended  for,  as  also  for  what  he  did 
to  Arthmius  of  Zelea,  who  brought  gold  from  the  king  of 
Persia  to  corrupt  the  Greeks,  and  was,  by  an  order  from 
Themistocles,  degraded  and  disfranchised,  he  and  his 
children  and  his  posterity;  but  that  which  most  of  all 
redounded  to  his  credit  was,  that  he  put  an  end  to  all  the 
civil  wars  of  Greece,  composed  their  differences,  and  per- 
suaded them  to  lay  aside  all  enmity  during  the  war  with 
the  Persians. 

Having  taken  upon  himself  the  command  of  the  Athe- 
nian forces,  he  immediately  endeavored  to  persuade  the 
citizens  to  leave  the  city,  and  to  embark  upon  their  gal- 
leys, and  meet  with  the  Persians  at  a  great  distance  from 
Greece ;  but  many  being  against  this,  he  led  a  large  force, 
together  with  the  Lacedaemonians,  into  Tempe,  that  in 
this  pass  they  might  maintain  the  safety  of  Thessaly, 
which  had  not  as  yet  declared  for  the  king;  but  when 
they  returned  without  performing  anything,  and  it  was 
known  that  not  only  the  Thessalians,  but  all  as  far  as 
Boeotia,  was  going  over  to  Xerxes,  then  the  Athenians 
more  willingly  hearkened  to  the  advice  of  Themistocles  to 
fight  by  sea,  and  sent  him  with  a  fleet  to  guard  the  straits 
of  Artemisium. 

When  the  contingents  met  here,  the  Greeks  would  have 


THEMISTOCLES.  11 

the  Lacedaemonians  to  command,  and  Eurybiades  to  be 
their  admiral ;  but  the  Athenians,  who  surpassed  all  the 
rest  together  in  number  of  vessels,  would  not  submit  to 
come  after  any  other,  till  Themistocles,  perceiving  the 
danger  of  this  contest,  yielded  his  own  command  to  Eu- 
rybiades, and  got  the  Athenians  to  submit,  extenuating 
the  loss  by  persuading  them,  that  if  in  this  war  they  be- 
haved themselves  like  men,  he  would  answer  for  it  after 
that,  that  the  Greeks,  of  their  own  will,  would  submit  to 
their  command.  And  by  this  moderation  of  his,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  he  was  the  chief  means  of  the  deliverance  of 
Greece,  and  gained  the  Athenians  the  glory  of  alike  sur- 
passing their  enemies  in  valor,  and  their  confederates  in 
wisdom. 

As  soon  as  the  Persian  armada  arrived  at  Aphetae,  Eu- 
rybiades was  astonished  to  see  such  a  vast  number  of  ves- 
sels before  him,  and,  being  informed  that  two  hundred 
more  were  sailing  round  behind  the  island  of  Sciathus,  he 
immediately  determined  to  retire  farther  into  Greece,  and 
to  sail  back  into  some  part  of  Peloponnesus,  where  their 
land  army  and  their  fleet  might  join,  for  he  looked  upon 
the  Persian  forces  to  be  altogether  unassailable  by  sea. 
But  the  Euboeans,  fearing  that  the  Greeks  would  forsake 
them,  and  leave  them  to  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  sent 
Pelagon  to  confer  privately  with  Themistocles,  taking 
with  him  a  good  sum  of  money,  whiWi,  as  Herodotus  re- 
ports, he  accepted  and  gave  to  Eurybiades.  In  this  affair 
none  of  his  own  countrymen  opposed  him  so  much  as 
Architeles,  captain  of  the  sacred  galley,  who,  having  no 
money  to  supply  his  seamen,  was  eager  to  go  home ;  but 

Sacred  gaUey :  that  which  the  Athenians  sent  every  year  to  Delos  with 
sacrifices  to  the  god  Apollo. 


12  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Themistocles  so  incensed  the  Athenians  against  him,  that 
they  set  upon  him  and  left  him  not  so  much  as  his  supper, 
at  which  Architeles  was  much  surprised,  and  took  it  very 
ill ;  but  Themistocles  immediately  sent  him  in  a  chest  a 
service  of  provisions,  and  at  the  bottom  of  it  a  talent  of 
silver,  desiring  him  to  sup  to-night,  and  to-morrow  pro- 
vide for  his  seamen;  if  not,  he  would  report  it  amongst 
the  Athenians  that  he  had  received  money  from  the  enemy. 
So  Phanias  the  Lesbian  tells  the  story. 

Though  the  fights  between  the  Greeks  and  Persians  in 
the  straits  of  Euboea  were  not  so  important  as  to  make 
any  final  decision  of  the  war,  yet  the  experience  which 
the  Greeks  obtained  in  them  was  of  great  advantage ;  for 
thus,  by  actual  trial  and  in  real  danger,  they  found  out, 
that  neither  number  of  ships,  nor  riches  and  ornaments, 
nor  boasting  shouts,  nor  barbarous  songs  of  victory,  were 
any  way  terrible  to  men  that  knew  how  to  fight,  and  were 
resolved  to  come  hand  to  hand  with  their  enemies;  these 
things  they  were  to  despise,  and  to  come  up  close  and 
grapple  with  their  foes.  This,  Pindar  appears  to  have 
seen,  and  says  justly  enough  of  the  fight  at  Artemisium, 
that 

There  the  sons  of  Athens  set 

The  stone  that  freedom  stands  on  yet. 

For  the  first  step  towards  victory  undoubtedly  is  to  gain 
courage. 

But  when  news  came  from  Thermopylae  to  Artemisium, 
informing  them  that  king  Leonidas  was  slain,  and  that 
Xerxes  had  made  himself  master  of  all  the  passages 
by   land,  they   returned   to   the   interior   of   Greece,  the 

Talent :.  about  $1,180. 

Barbarous  songs  :  songs  in  a  foreign  tongue. 


THEMISTOCLES.  13 

Athenians  having  the  command  of  the  rear,  the  place  of 
honor  and  danger,  and  much  elated  by  what  had  been 
done.  - 

As  Themistocles  sailed  along  the  coast,  he  took  notice 
of  the  harbors  and  fit  places  for  the  enemies'  ships  to  come 
to  land  at,  and  engraved  large  letters  in  such  stones  as  he 
found  there  by  chance,  as  also  in  others  which  he  set  up 
on  purpose  near  to  the  landing-places,  or  where  they  were 
to  water ;  in  which  inscriptions  he  called  upon  the  Ionian s 
to  forsake  the  Medes,  if  it  were  possible,  and  come  over  to 
the  Greeks,  who  were  their  proper  founders  and  fathers, 
and  were  now  hazarding  all  for  their  liberties ;  but,  if  this 
could  not  be  done,  at  any  rate  to  impede  and  disturb  the 
Persians  in  all  engagements.  He  hoped  that  these  writ- 
ings would  prevail  with  the  lonians  to  revolt,  or  raise 
some  trouble  by  making  their  fidelity  doubtful  to  the 
Persians. 

Now,  though  Xerxes  had  already  passed  through  Doris 
and  invaded  the  country  of  Phocis,  and  was  burning  and 
destroying  the  cities  of  the  Phocians,  yet  the  Greeks  sent 
them  no  relief;  and,  though  the  Athenians  earnestly  de- 
sired them  to  meet  the  Persians  in  Boeotia,  before  they 
could  come  into  Attica,  as  they  themselves  had  come  for- 
ward by  sea  at  Artemisium,  they  gave  no  ear  to  their 
request,  being  wholly  intent  upon  Peloponnesus,  and  re- 
solved to  gather  all  their  forces  together  within  the  Isth- 
mus, and  to  build  a  wall  from  sea  to  sea  in  that  narrow 
neck  of  land;  so  that  the  Athenians  were  enraged  to  see 
themselves  betrayed,  and  at  the  same  time  afflicted  and 
dejected  at  their  own  destitution.  For  to  fight  alone 
against  such  a  numerous  army  was  to  no  purpose,  and  the 
only  expedient  now  left  them  was  to  leave  their  city  and 


14  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

cling  to  their  ships ;  which  the  people  were  very  unwill- 
ing to  submit  to,  imagining  that  it  would  signify  little 
now  to  gain  a  victory,  and  not  understanding  how  there 
could  be  deliverance  any  longer  after  they  had  once  for- 
saken the  temples  of  their  gods  and  exposed  the  tombs  and 
monuments  of  their  ancestors  to  the  fury  of  their  enemies. 
Themistocles,  being  at  a  loss,  and  not  able  to  draw  the 
people  over  to  his  opinion  by  any  human  reason,  set  his 
machines  to  work,  as  in  a  theatre,  and  employed  prodigies 
and  oracles.  The  serpent  of  Minerva,  kept  in  the  inner 
part  of  her  temple,  disappeared ;  the  priests  gave  it  out 
to  the  people  that  the  offerings  which  were  set  for  it 
were  found  untouched,  and  declared,  by  the  suggestion  of 
Themistocles,  that  the  goddess  had  left  the  city,  and  taken 
her  flight  before  them  towards  the  sea.  And  he  often 
urged  them  with  the  oracle  which  bade  them  trust  to 
walls  of  wood,  showing  them  that  walls  of  wood  could 
signify  nothing  else  but  ships  ;  and  that  the  island  of  Sal- 
amis  was  termed  in  it,  not  miserable  or  unhappy,  but  had 
the  epithet  of  divine,  for  that  it  should  one  day  be  asso- 
ciated with  a  great  good  fortune  of  the  Greeks.  At  length 
his  opinion  prevailed,  and  he  obtained  a  decree  that  the 
city  should  be  committed  to  the  protection  of  Minerva, 
"  queen  of  Athens  " ;  that  they  who  were  of  age  to  bear 
arms  should  embark,  and  that  each  should  see  to  sending 
away  his  children,  women,  and  slaves  where  he  could. 
This  decree  being  confirmed,  most  of  the  Athenians  re- 
moved their  parents,  wives,  and  children  to  Troezen,  where 

Minerva,  or  Athene,  the  protecting  goddess  of  the  Athenian  state,  was  the 
patroness  of  wisdom,  agriculture,  the  useful  arts,  and  warlike  defence.  Her 
temple  was  the  Parthenon. 

Oracle  :  a  temple  or  other  sacred  place  where  answers  to  questions  were 
obtained  from  the  gods.    The  word  also  means  the  answer  given. 


THEMISTOCLES.  15 

they  were  received  with  eager  good-will  by  the  Troeze- 
nians,  who  passed  a  vote  that  they  should  be  maintained 
at  the  public  charge. 

When  the  whole  city  of  Athens  were  going  on  board,  it 
afforded  a  spectacle  worthy  of  pity  alike  and  admiration, 
to  see  them  thus  send  away  their  fathers  and  children  be- 
fore them,  and,  unmoved  with  their  cries  and  tears,  pass 
over  into  the  island.  But  that  which  stirred  compassion 
most  of  all  was,  that  many  old  men,  by  reason  of  their 
great  age,  were  left  behind;  and  even  the  tame  domestic  ani- 
mals could  not  be  seen  without  some  pity,  running  about 
the  town  and  howling,  as  desirous  to  be  carried  along  with 
their  masters  that  had  kept  them. 

Among  the  great  actions  of  Themistocles  at  this  crisis, 
the  recall  of  Aristides  was  not  the  least,  for,  before  the 
war,  he  had  been  ostracized  by  the  party  which  Themis- 
tocles headed,  and  was  in  banishment ;  but  now,  perceiv- 
ing that  the  people  regretted  his  absence,  and  were  fearful 
that  he  might  go  over  to  the  Persians  to  revenge  himself, 
and  thereby  ruin  the  affairs  of  Greece,  Themistocles  pro- 
posed a  decree  that  those  who  were  banished  for  a  time 
might  return  again,  to  give  assistance  by  word  and  deed 
to  the  cause  of  Greece  with  the  rest  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens. 

Eurybiades,  by  reason  of  the  greatness  of  Sparta,  was 
admiral  of  the  Greek  fleet,  but  yet  was  faint-hearted  in 
time  of  danger,  and  willing  to  weigh  anchor  and  set  sail 
for  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,  near  which  the  land  army  lay 
encamped ;  which  Themistocles  resisted ;  and  this  was  the 
occasion  of  the  well-known  words,  when  Eurybiades,  to 
check  his  impatience,  told  him  that  at  the  Olympic  games 
they  that   start   up   before    the   rest   are   lashed;    ''And 


16  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

they,"  replied  Themistocles,  "that  are  left  behind  are  not 
crowned."  Again,  Eurybiades  lifting  up  his  staff  as  if  he 
were  going  to  strike,  Themistocles  said,  "Strike  if  you 
will,  but  hear  "  ;  Eurybiades,  wondering  much  at  his  mod- 
eration, desired  him  to  speak,  and  Themistocles  now 
brought  him  to  a  better  understanding.  And  when  one 
who  stood  by  him  told  him  that  it  did  not  become  those 
who  had  neither  city  nor  house  to  lose,  to  persuade  others 
to  relinquish  their  habitations  and  forsake  their  countries, 
Themistocles  gave  this  reply :  "  We  have  indeed  left  our 
houses  and  our  walls,  base  fellow,  not  thinking  it  fit  to 
become  slaves  for  the  sake  of  things  that  have  no  life  nor 
soul ;  and  yet  our  city  is  the  greatest  of  all  Greece,  con- 
sisting of  two  hundred  galleys,  which  are  here  to  defend 
you,  if  you  please ;  but  if  you  run  away  and  betray  us,  as 
you  did  once  before,  the  Greeks  shall  soon  hear  news  of 
the  Athenians  possessing  as  fair  a  country,  and  as  large 
and  free  a  city,  as  that  they  have  lost."  These  expressions 
of  Themistocles  made  Eurybiades  suspect  that  if  he  re- 
treated, the  Athenians  would  fall  off  from  him.  When 
one  of  Eretria  began  to  oppose  him,  he  said,  "  Have  you, 
that  are  like  an  ink-fish,  anything  to  say  of  war?  you 
have  a  sword,  but  no  heart."  ^  Some  say  that  while 
Themistocles  was  thus  speaking  upon  the  deck,  an  owl 
was  seen  flying  to  the  right  hand  of  the  fleet,  which 
came  and  sate  upon  the  top  of  the  mast ;  and  this  happy 
omen  so  far  disposed  the  Greeks  to  follow  his  advice,  that 
they  presently  prepared  to  fight.  Yet,  when  the  enemy's 
fleet  was  arrived  at  the  haven  of  Phalerum,  upon  the  coast 

^  The  Teuthis,  loligo,  or  cuttle-fish,  when  pursued,  throws  out  an  ink- 
colored  liquid  which  blackens  the  water.  It  is  said  to  have  a  bone  or  cartilage 
shaped  like  a  sword,  and  was  conceived  to  have  no  heart. 


THEMISTOCLES.  17 

of  Attica,  and  with  the  number  of  their  ships  concealed  all 
the  shore,  and  when  they  saw  the  king  himself  in  person 
come  down  with  his  land  army  to  the  sea-side,  with  all  his 
forces  united,  then  the  good  counsel  of  Themistocles  was 
soon  forgotten,  and  the  Peloponnesians  cast  their  eyes 
again  towards  the  isthmus,  and  took  it  very  ill  if  any  one 
spoke  against  their  returning  home ;  and,  resolving  to  de- 
part that  night,  the  pilots  had  order  what  course  to  steer._ 
Themistocles,  in  great  distress  that  the  Greeks  should 
retire,  and  lose  the  advantage  of  the  narrow  seas  and 
strait  passage,  and  slip  home  every  one  to  his  own  city, 
considered  with  himself,  and  contrived  that  stratagem 
that  was  carried  out  by  Sicinnus.  This  Sicinnus  was  a 
Persian  captive,  but  a  great  lover  of  Themistocles,  and 
the  attendant  of  his  children.  Upon  this  occasion,  he  sent 
him  privately  to  Xerxes,  commanding  him  to  tell  the  king, 
that  Themistocles,  the  admiral  of  the  Athenians,  having 
espoused  his  interest,  wished  to  be  the  first  to  inform  him 
that  the  Greeks  were  ready  to  make  their  escape,  and  that 
he  counselled  him  to  hinder  their  flight,  to  set  upon  them 
while  they  were  in  this  confusion  and  at  a  distance  from 
their  land  army,  and  hereby  destroy  all  their  forces  by  sea. 
Xerxes  was  very  joyful  at  this  message,  and  received  it  as 
from  one  who  wished  him  all  that  was  good,  and  imme- 
diately issued  instructions  to  the  commanders  of  his  ships, 
that  they  should  instantly  set  out  with  two  hundred  gal- 
leys to  encompass  all  the  islands,  and  enclose  all  the  straits 
and  passages,  that  none  of  the  Greeks  might  escape,  and 
that  they  should  afterwards  follow  with  the  rest  of  their 
fleet  at  leisure.  This  being  done,  Aristides  was  the  first 
man  that  perceived  it,  and  went  to  the  tent  of  Themis- 
tocles, not  out  of  any  friendship,  for  he  had  been  formerly 


18  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

banished  by  his  means,  as  has  been  related,  but  to  inform 
him  how  they  were  encompassed  by  their  enemies.  The- 
mistocles,  knowing  the  generosity  of  Aristides,  and  much 
struck  by  his  visit  at  that  time,  imparted  to  him  all  that 
he  had  transacted  by  Sicinnus,  and  entreated  him,  that,  as 
he  would  be  more  readily  believed  among  the  Greeks,  he 
would  make  use  of  his  credit  to  help  to  induce  them  to 
stay  and  fight  their  enemies  in  the  narrow  seas.  Aristi- 
des applauded  Themistocles,  and  went  to  the  other  com- 
manders and  captains  of  the  galleys,  and  encouraged  them 
to  engage  ;  yet  they  did  not  perfectly  assent  to  him,  till  a 
galley  of  Tenos,  which  deserted  from  the  Persians,  of 
which  Pause  tins  was  commander,  came  in,  while  they  were 
still  doubting,  and  confirmed  the  news  that  all  the  straits 
and  passages  were  beset ;  and  then  their  rage  and  fury,  as 
well  as  their  necessity,  provoked  them  all  to  fight. 

As  soon  as  it  was  day,  Xerxes  placed  himself  high  up, 
to  view  his  fleet,  and  how  it  was  set  in  order.  Phanode- 
mus  says,  he  sat  upon  a  promontory  above  the  temple  of 
Hercules,  where  the  coast  of  Attica  is  separated  from  the 
island  by  a  narrow  channel ;  but  Acestodorus  writes,  that 
it  was  in  the  confines  of  Megara,  upon  those  hills  which 
are  called  the  Horns,  where  he  sat  in  a  chair  of  gold,  with 
many  secretaries  about  him  to  write  down  all  that  was 
done  in  the  fight. 

The  number  of  the  enemy's  ships  the  poet  iEschylus 
gives  in  his  tragedy  called  the  Persians,  as  on  his  certain 
knowledge,  in  the  following  words  — 

Xerxes,  I  know,  did  into  battle  lead 

One  thousand  ships ;   of  more  than  usual  speed 

Seven  and  two  hundred.     So  is  it  agreed. 


THEMISTOCLES.  19 

The  Athenians  had  a  hundred  and  eighty ;  in  every  ship 
eighteen  men  fought  upon  the  deck,  four  of  whom  were 
archers  and  the  rest  men-at-arms. 

As  Themistocles  had  fixed  upon  the  most  advantageous 
place,  so,  with  no  less  sagacity,  he  chose  the  best  time  of 
fighting ;  for  he  would  not  run  the  prows  of  his  galleys 
against  the  Persians,  nor  begin  the  fight  till  the  time  of 
day  was  come,  when  there  regularly  blows  in  a  fresh 
breeze  from  the  open  sea,  and  brings  in  with  it  a  strong 
swell  into*  the  channel ;  which  was  no  inconvenience  to 
the  Greek  ships,  which  were  low-built,  and  little  above  the 
water,  but  did  much  hurt  to' the  Persians,  which  had  high 
sterns  and  lofty  decks,  and  were  heavy  and  cumbrous  in 
their  movements,  as  it  presented  the  in  broadside  to  the 
quick  charges  of  the  Greeks,  who  kept  their  eyes  upon 
the  motions  of  Themistocles,  as  their  best  example,  and 
more  particularly  because,  opposed  to  his  ship,  Ariamenes, 
admiral  to  Xerxes,  a  brave  man,  and  by  far  the  best  and 
worthiest  of  the  king's  brothers,  was  seen  throwing  darts 
and  shooting  arrows  from  his  huge  galley,  as  from  the 
walls  of  a  castle. 

The  first  man  that  took  a  ship  was  Lycomedes  the 
Athenian,  captain  of  a  galley,  who  cut  down  its  ensign, 
and  dedicated  it  to  Apollo  the  Laurel-crowned.  And  as 
the  Persians  fought  in  a  narrow  arm  of  the  sea,  and  could 
bring  but  part  of  their  fleet  to  fight,  and  fell  foul  of  one 
another,  the  Greeks  thus  equalled  them  in  strength,  and 
fought  with  them  till  the  evening,  forced  them  back,  and 
obtained,  as  says  Simonides,  that  noble  and  famous  victory, 
than  which  neither  amongst  the  Greeks  nor   barbarians 

Barliarian  :  the  Greeks  applied  the  term  *'  barharian  "  to  all  nations  speak- 
ing a  different  language,  in  about  the  same  sense  that  we  use  the  term  **  alien  " 
or  "  foreigner." 


20  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

was  ever  known  more  glorious  exploit  on  the  seas ;  by  the 
joint  valor,  indeed,  and  zeal  of  all  who  fought,  but  by  the 
wisdom  and  sagacity  of  Themistocles. 

After  this  sea-fight,  Xerxes,  enraged  at  his  ill-fortune, 
attempted,  by  casting  great  heaps  of  earth  and  stones  into 
the  sea,  to  stop  up  the  channel  and  to  make  a  dam,  upon 
which  he  might  lead  his  land-forces  over  into  the  island 
of  Salamis. 

Themistocles,  being  desirous  to  try  the  opinion  of 
Aristides,  told  him  that  he  proposed  to  set  sail  for  the 
Hellespont,  to  break  the  bridge  of  ships,  so  as  to  shut  up, 
he  said,  Asia  a  prisoner  within  Europe ;  but  Aristides,  dis- 
liking the  design,  said,  "  We  have  hitherto  fought  with  an 
enemy  who  has  regarded  little  else  but  his  pleasure  and 
luxury ;  but  if  we  shut  him  up  within  Greece,  and  drive 
him  to  necessity,  he  that  is  master  of  such  great  forces 
will  no  longer  sit  quietly  with  an  umbrella  of  gold  over 
his  head,  looking  upon  the  fight  for  his  pleasure ;  but  in 
such  a  strait  will  attempt  all  things ;  he  will  be  resolute, 
and  appear  himself  in  person  upon  all  occasions,  he  will 
soon  correct  his  errors,  and  supply  what  he  has  formerly 
omitted  through  remissness,  and  will  be  better  advised  in 
all  things.  Therefore,  it  is  noways  our  interest,  Themis- 
tocles," he  said,  "  to  take  away  the  bridge  that  is  already 
made,  but  rather  to  build  another,  if  it  were  possible,  that 
he  might  make  his  retreat  with  the  more  expedition."  To 
which  Themistocles  answered,  "If  this  be  requisite,  we 
must  immediately  use  all  diligence,  art,  and  industry,  to 
rid  ourselves  of  him  as  soon  as  may  be  " ;  and  to  this  pur- 
pose he  found  out  among  the  Persian  captives  one  Arnaces, 
whom  he  sent  to  the  king,  to  inform  him  that  the  Greeks, 
being  now  victorious  by  sea,  had  decreed  to  sail  to  the 


THEMISTOCLES.  21 

Hellespont,  where  the  boats  were  fastened  together,  and 
destroy  the  bridge ;  but  that  Themistocles,  bemg  concerned 
for  the  king,  revealed  this  to  him,  that  he  might  hasten 
towards  the  Asiatic  seas,  and  pass  over  into  his  own  domin- 
ions ;  and  in  the  mean  time  would  cause  delays,  and 
hinder  the  confederates  from  pursuing  him.  Xerxes  no 
sooner  heard  this,  but,  being  very  much  terrified,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  retreat  out  of  Greece  with  all  speed.  The 
prudence  of  Themistocles  and  Aristides  in  this  was  after- 
wards more  f  idly  understood  at  the  battle  of  Platsea,  where 
Mardonius,  with  a  very  small  fraction  of  the  forces  of 
Xerxes,  put  the  Greeks  in  danger  of  losing  all. 

Herodotus  writes,  that,  of  all  the  cities  of  Greece, 
^gina  was  held  to  have  performed  the  best  service  in 
the  war;  while  all  single  men  yielded  to  Themistocles, 
though,  out  of  envy,  unwillingly ;  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  the  entrance  of  Peloponnesus,  where  the  sev- 
eral commanders  delivered  their  suffrages  at  the  altar,  to 
determine  who  was  most  worthy,  every  one  gave  the 
first  vote  for  himself  and  the  second  for  Themistocles. 
The  Lacedaemonians  carried  him  with  them  to  Sparta, 
where,  giving  the  rewards  of  valor  to  Eurybiades,  and  of 
wisdom  and  conduct  to  Themistocles,  they  crowned  him 
with  olive,  presented  him  with  the  best  chariot  in  the 
city,  and  sent  three  hundred  young  men  to  accompany 
him  to  the  confines  of  their  country.  And  at  the  next 
Olympic  games,  when  Themistocles  entered  the  course, 
the  spectators  took  no  farther  notice  of  those  who  were 
contesting  the  prizes,  but  spent  the  whole  day  in  looking 
upon  him,  showing  him  to  the  strangers,  admiring  him, 
and  applauding  him  by  clapping  their  hands,  and  other 
expressions  of   joy,   so  that   he   himself,  much   gratified, 


22  PLUTARCH^S  LIVES. 

confessed  to  his  friends  that  he  then  reaped  the  fruit  of 
all  his  labors  for  the  Greeks. 

He  was,  indeed,  by  nature,  a  great  lover  of  honor,  as  is 
evident  from  the  anecdotes  recorded  of  him.  When 
chosen  admiral  by  the  Athenians,  he  would  not  quite 
conclude  any  single  matter  of  business,  either  public  or 
private,  but  deferred  all  till  the  day  they  were  to  set 
sail,  that,  by  despatching  a  great  quantity  of  business  all 
at  once,  and  having  to  meet  a  great  variety  of  people,  he 
might  make  an  appearance  of  greatness  and  power.  View- 
ing the  dead  bodies  cast  up  by  the  sea,  he  perceived 
bracelets  and  necklaces  of  gold  about  them,  yet  passed 
on,  only  showing  them  to  a  friend  that  followed  him, 
saying,  "  Take  you  these  things,  for  you  are  not  Themis- 
tocles."  He  said  to  Antiphates,  a  handsome  young  man, 
who  had  formerly  avoided,  but  now  in  his  glory  courted 
him,  "  Time,  young  man,  has  taught  us  both  a  lesson." 
He  said  that  the  Athenians  did  not  honor  him  or  admire 
him,  but  made,  as  it  were,  a  sort  of  plane-tree  of  him  ;  shel- 
tered themselves  under  him  in  bad  weather,  and,  as  soon  as 
it  was  fine,  plucked  his  leaves  and  cut  his  branches.  When 
the  Seriphian  told  him  that  he  had  not  obtained  this 
honor  by  himself,  but  by  the  greatness  of  his  city,  he 
replied,  "  You  speak  truth ;  I  should  never  have  been 
famous  if  I  had  been  of  Seriphus ;  nor  you,  had  you 
been  of  Athens."  When  another  of  the  generals,  who 
thought  he  had  performed  considerable  service  for  the 
Athenians,  boastingly  compared  his  actions  with  those  of 
Themistocles,  he  told  him  that  once  upon  a  time  the 
Day  after  the  Festival  found  fault  with  the  Festival :  "  On 
you  there  is  nothing'  but  hurry  and  trouble  and  prepara- 
tion, but,  when  I  come,  everybody  sits  down  quietly  and 


THEMISTOCLES.  23 

enjoys  himself " ;  which  the  Festival  admitted  was  true, 
but  "  if  I  had  not  come  first,  you  would  not  have  come  at 
all.  "  Even  so,"  he  said,  "  if  Themistocles  had  not  come 
before,  where  had  you  been  now?"  Laughing  at  his 
own  son,  who  got  his  mother,  and,  by  his  mother's  means, 
his  father  also,  to  indulge  him,  he  told  him  that  he  had 
the  most  power  of  any  one  in  Greece :  "  For  the  Athenians 
command  the  rest  of  Greece,  I  command  the  Athenians, 
your  mother  commands  me,  and  you  command  your 
mother."  Loving  to  be  singular  in  all  things,  when  he 
had  land  to  sell,  he  ordered  the  crier  to  give  notice  that 
there  were  good  neighbors  near  it.  Of  two  who  made 
love  to  his  daughter,  he  preferred  the  man  of  worth  to 
the  one  who  was  rich,  saying  he  desired  a  man  without 
riches,  rather  than  riches  without  a  man.  Such  was  the 
character  of  his  sayings.  C^-x  v: 

After  these  things,  he  began  to  rebuild  and  fortify  the 
city  of  Athens,  bribing,  as  reported,  the  Lacedaemonian 
ephors  not  to  be  against  it,  but,  as  most  relate  it,  over- 
reaching and  deceiving  them.  For,  under  pretext  of  an 
embassy,  he  went  to  Sparta,  where,  upon  the  Lace- 
daemonians charging  him  with  rebuilding  the  walls,  and 
Poliarchus  coming  on  purpose  from  ^gina  to  denounce 
it,  he  denied  the  fact,  bidding  them  to  send  people 
to  Athens  to  see  whether  it  were  so  or  no ;  by  which 
delay  he  got  time  for  the  building  of  the  wall,  and  also 
placed  these  ambassadors  in  the  hands  of  his  countrymen 
as  hostages  for  him ;  and  so,  when  the  Lacedaemonians 
knew  the  truth,  they  did  him  no  hurt,  but,  suppressing 
all  display  of  their  anger  for  the  present,  sent  him 
away. 

Ephors  :  five  magistrates  elected  by  the  Spartan  people  to  protect  them 
against  the  infringement  of  their  rights  by  the  King  or  Senate. 


24  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Next,  he  proceeded  to  establish  the  harbor  of  Pirseus, 
observing  the  great  natural  advantages  of  the  locality, 
and  desirous  to  unite  the  whole  city  with  the  sea,  and  to 
reverse,  in  a  manner,  the  policy  of  ancient  Athenian 
kings,  who,  endeavoring  to  withdraw  their  subjects  from 
the  sea,  and  to  accustom  them  to  live,  not  by  sailing 
about,  but  by  planting  and  tilling  the  earth,  spread  the 
story  of  the  dispute  between  Minerva  and  Neptune  for 
the  sovereignty  of  Athens,  in  which  Minerva,  by  pro- 
ducing to  the  judges  an  olive  tree,  was  declared  to  have 
won ;  whereas  Themistocles  did  not  only  knead  up,  as 
Aristophanes  says,  the  port  and  the  city  into  one,  but 
made  the  city  absolutely  the  dependant  and  the  adjunct 
of  the  port,  and  the  land  of  the  sea,  which  increased  the 
power  and  confidence  of  the  people  against  the  nobility ; 
the  authority  coming  into  the  hands  of  sailors  and  boat- 
swains and  pilots.  Thus  it  was  one  of  the  orders  of  the 
thirty  tyrants,  that  the  hustings  in  the  assembly,  which 
had  faced  towards  the  sea,  should  be  turned  round 
towards  the  land ;  implying  their  opinion  that  the  empire 
by  sea  had  been  the  origin  of  the  democracy,  and  that 
the  farming  population  were  not  so  much  opposed  to 
oligarchy. 

Themistocles,  however,  formed  yet  higher  designs  Avith 
a  view  to  naval  supremacy.  For,  after  the  departure  of 
Xerxes,  when   the  Grecian  fleet  was  arrived  at  Pagasse, 

Thirty  Tyrants  :  at  the  close  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  the  Spartans, 
being  conquerors,  put  the  whole  government  of  Athens  under  the  control  of 
thirty  rulers  from  the  aristocratical  party.  Their  government  proved  a  reign 
of  terror.    It  lasted  less  than  a  single  year. 

Hustings  :  the  platform  from  which  candidates  for  political  office  address 
the  people.    The  place  where  an  election  is  held. 

Oligarchy  :  a  government  in  the  hands  of  a  few  persons. 


THEMISTOCLES.  25 

where  they  wintered,  Themistocles,  in  a  publie  oration 
to  the  people  of  Athens,  told  them  that  he  had  a  de- 
sign to  perform  something  that  would  tend  greatly  to 
their  interests  and  safety,  but  was  of  such  a  nature,  that 
it  could  not  be  made  generally  public.  The  Athenians 
ordered  him  to  impart  it  to  Aristides  only ;  and,  if  he 
approved  of  it,  to  put  it  in  practice.  And  when  Themis- 
tocles had  discovered  to  him  that  his  design  was  to  burn 
the  Grecian  fleet  in  the  haven  of  Pagasae,  Aristides,  com- 
ing out  to  the  people,  gave  this  report  of  the  stratagem 
contrived  by  Themistocles,  that  no  proposal  could  be 
more  politic,  or  more  dishonorable ;  on  which  the 
Athenians  commanded  Themistocles  to  think  no  farther 
of  it. 

When  the  Lacedsemonians  proposed,  at  the  general 
council  of  the  Amphictyonians,^  that  the  representatives 
of  those  cities  which  were  not  in  the  league,  nor  had 
fought  against  the  Persians,  should  be  excluded,  Themis- 
tocles, fearing  that,  the  Thessalians,  with  those  of  Thebes, 
Argos,  and  others,  being  thrown  out  of  the  council, 
the  Lacedaemonians  would  become  wholly  masters  of  the 
votes,  and  do  what  they  pleased,  supported  the  deputies 
of  the  cities,  and  prevailed  with  the  members  then 
sitting,  to  alter  their  opinion  in  this  point,  showing  them 
that  there  were  but  one  and  thirty  cities  which  had 
partaken  in  the  war,  and  that  most  of  these,  also,  were 
very  small ;  how  intolerable  would  it  be,  if  the  rest  of 
Greece  should  be  excluded,  and  the  general  council  should 
come  to  be  ruled  by  two  or  three  great  cities.  By  this, 
chiefly,  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Lacedaemonians, 

1  The  Amphictyonic  council,  composed  of  representatives  of  the  chief  cities 
and  states  of  Greece,  exercised  great  power. 


26  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

whose  honors  and  favors  were  now  shown  to  Ciinon,  with 
a  view  of  making  him  the  opponent  of  the  state  policy  of 
Themistocles. 

He  was  also  burdensome  to  the  confederates,  sailing 
about  the  islands  and  collecting  money  from  them.  He- 
rodotus says,  that,  requiring  money  of  those  of  the  island 
of  Andros,  he  told  them  that  he  had  brought  with  him 
two  goddesses.  Persuasion  and  Force ;  and  they  answered 
him  that  they  also  had  two  great  goddesses,  which  pro- 
hibited them  from  giving  him  any  money.  Poverty  and 
Impossibility. 

When  the  citizens  of  Athens  began  to  listen  willingly  to 
those  who  traduced  and  reproached  him,  he  was  forced, 
with  somewhat  obnoxious  frequency,  to  put  them  in  mind 
of  the  great  services  he  had  performed,  and  ask  those  who 
were  offended  with  him  whether  they  were  weary  with 
receiving  benefits  often  from  the  same  person,  so  render- 
ing himself  more  odious.  At  length  the  Athenians  ban- 
ished him,  making  use  of  the  ostracism  to  humble  his 
eminence  and  authority,  as  they  ordinarily  did  with  all 
whom  they  thought  too  powerful,  or,  by  their  greatness, 
disproportionable  to  the  equality  thought  requisite  in  a 
popular  government.  For  the  ostracism  was  instituted, 
not  so  much  to  punish  the  offender,  as  to  mitigate  and 
pacify  the  violence  of  the  envious,  who  delighted  to  hum- 
ble eminent  men,  and  who,  by  fixing  this  disgrace  upon 
them,  might  vent  some  part  of  their  rancor. 

Themistocles  being  banished  from  Athens,  while  he 
stayed  at  Argos  the  detection  of  Pausanias  happened, 
which  gave  such  advantage  to  his  enemies,  that  Leobotes 
indicted  him  of  treason,  the  Spartans  supporting  him  in 
the  accusation. 


THEMISTOCLES.  27 

When  Pausaiiias  went  about  this  treasonable  design,  he 
concealed  it  at  first  from  Themistocles,  though  he  were 
his  intimate  friend ;  but  when  he  saw  him  expelled  out  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  how  impatiently  he  took  his  ban- 
ishment, he  ventured  to  communicate  it  to  him,  and  de- 
sired his  assistance,  shoAving  him  the  king  of  Persia's 
letters,  and  exasperating  him  against  the  Greeks,  as  a 
villainous,  ungrateful  people.  However,  Themistocles  im- 
mediately rejected  the  proposals  of  Pausanias,  and  wholly 
refused  to  be  a  party  in  the  enterprise,  though  he  never 
revealed  his  communications,  nor  disclosed  the  conspiracy 
to  any  man,  either  hoping  that  Pausanias  would  desist 
from  his  intentions,  or  expecting  that  so  inconsiderate  an 
attempt  after  such  chimerical  objects  would  be  discovered 
by  other  means. 

After  that  Pausanias  was  put  to  death,  letters  and  writ- 
ings being  found  concerning  this  matter,  which  rendered 
Themistocles  suspected,  the  Lacedsemonians  were  clamor- 
ous against  him,  and  his  enemies  among  the  Athenians 
accused  him ;  when,  being  absent  from  Athens,  he  made 
his  defence  by  letters,  especially  against  the  points  that 
had  been  previously  alleged  against  him.  In  answer  to 
the  malicious  detractions  of  his  enemies,  he  merely  wrote 
to  the  citizens,  urging  that  he  who  was  always  ambitious 
to  govern,  and  not  of  a  character  or  a  disposition  to  serve, 
would  never  sell  himself  and  his  country  into  slavery  to  a 
barbarous  and  hostile  nation. 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  people,  being  persuaded  by 
his  accusers,  sent  officers  to  take  him  and  bring  him  away 
to  be  tried  before  a  council  of  the  Greeks,  but,  having 
timely  notice  of  it,  he  passed  over  into  the  island  of  Cor- 
cyra,  where  the  state  was  under  obligations  to  him ;  for, 


28  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

being  chosen  as  arbitrator  in  a  difference  between  them 
and  the  Corinthians,  he  decided  the  controversy  by  order- 
ing the  Corinthians  to  pay  down  twenty  talents,  and  de- 
claring the  town  and  island  of  Leucas  a  joint  colony  from 
both  cities.  From  thence  he  fled  into  Epirus,  and,  the 
Athenians  and  Lacedaemonians  still  pursuing  him,  he 
threw  himself  upon  chances  of  safety  that  seemed  all  but 
desperate.  For  he  fled  for  refuge  to  Admetus,  king  of  the 
Molossians,  who  had  formerly  made  some  request  to  the 
Athenians,  when  Themistocles  was  in  the  height  of  his 
authority,  and  liad  been  disdainfully  used  and  insulted  by 
him,  and  had  let  it  appear  plain  enough,  that,  could  he 
lay  hold  of  him,  he  would  take  his  revenge.  Yet  in  this 
misfortune,  Themistocles,  fearing  the  recent  hatred  of  his 
neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  more  than  the  old  displeasure 
of  the  king,  put  himself  at  his  mercy,  and  became  an  hum- 
ble suppliant  to  Admetus,  after  a  peculiar  manner,  differ- 
ent from  the  custom  of  other  countries.  For  taking  the 
king's  son,  who  was  then  a  child,  in  his  arms,  he  laid  him- 
self down  at  his  hearth,  this  being  the  most  sacred  and 
only  manner  of  supplication  among  the  Molossians,  which 
was  not  to  be  refused.  And  some  say  that  his  wife, 
Phthia,  intimated  to  Themistocles  this  way  of  petitioning, 
and  placed  her  young  son  with  him  before  the  hearth  ; 
others,  that  king  Admetus,  that  he  might  be  under  a  re- 
ligious obligation  not  to  deliver  him  up  to  his  pursuers, 
prepared  and  enacted  with  him  a  sort  of  stage-play  to  this 
effect.  At  this  time,  Epicrates  of  Acharnse  privately  con- 
veyed his  wife  and  children  out  of  Athens,  and  sent  them 
hither,  for  which  afterwards  Cimon  condemned  him  and 
put  him  to  death. 

Thucydides  says,  that,  passing  over  land  to  the  ^gaean 


THEMISTOCLES.  29 

Sea,  Themistocles  took  ship  at  Pydiia  in  the  bay  of 
Therm e,  not  being  known  to  any  one  in  the  ship,  till, 
being  terrified,  to  see  the  vessel  driven  by  the  winds  near 
to  Naxos,  which  was  then  besieged  by  the  Athenians,  he 
made  himself  known  to  the  master  and  pilot,  and,  partly 
entreating  them,  partly  threatening  that  if  they  went  on 
shore  he  would  accuse  them,  and  make  the  Athenians  to 
believe  that  they  did  not  take  him  in  out  of  ignorance, 
but  that  he  had  corrupted  them  with  money  from  the 
beginning,  he  compelled  them  to  bear  off  and  stand  out  to 
sea,  and  sail  forward  towards  the  coast  of  Asia. 

A  great  part  of  his  estate  was  privately  conveyed  away 
by  his  friends,  and  sent  after  him  by  sea  into  Asia ;  be- 
sides .which,  there  was  discovered  and  confiscated  to  the 
value  of  fourscore  talents,  as  Theophrastus  writes;  Theo- 
pompus  says  an  hundred;  though  Themistocles  was  never 
worth  three  talents  before  he  was  concerned  in  public 
affairs. 

When  he  arrived  at  Cyme,  and  understood  that  all 
along  the  coast  there  were  many  laid  wait  for  him  (for 
the  game  was  worth  the  hunting  for  such  as  were  thank- 
ful to  make  money  by  any  means,  the  king  of  Persia  hav- 
ing offered  by  public  proclamation  two  hundred  talents  to 
him  that  should  take  him),  he  fled  to  ^gse,  a  small  city 
of  the  iEolians,  where  no  one  knew  him  but  only  his  host 
Nicogenes,  who  was  the  richest  man  in  ^olia,  and  well 
known  to  the  great  men  of  Inner  Asia.  While  Themis- 
tocles lay  hid  for  some  days  in  his  house,  one  night,  after 
a  sacrifice  and  supper  ensuing,  Olbius,  the  attendant  upon 
Nicogenes'  children,  fell  into  a  sort  of  frenzy  and  fit  of 
inspiration,  and  cried  out  in  verse,  — 

Night  shall  speak,  and  night  instruct  thee, 
By  the  voice  of  night  conduct  thee. 


30  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

After  this,  Themistocles,  going  to  bed,  dreamed  that  he 
saw  a  snake  coil  itself  up  upon  his  body,  and  so  creep  to 
his  neck  ;  then,  as  soon  as  it  touched  his  face,  it  turned 
into  an  eagle,  which  spread  its  wings  over  him,  and  took 
him  up  and  flew  away  with  him  a  great  distance ;  then 
there  appeared  a  herald's  golden  wand,  and  upon  this  at 
last  it  set  him  down  securely,  after  infinite  terror  and  dis- 
turbance. 

His  departure  was  effected  by  Nicogenes  by  the  follow- 
ing artifice ;  the  barbarous  nations,  and  amongst  them 
the  Persians  especially,  are  extremely  jealous,  severe,  and 
suspicious  about  their  women,  not  only  their  wives,  but 
also  their  bought  slaves  and  concubines,  whom  they  keep 
so  strictly  that  no  one  ever  sees  them  abroad ;  they  spend 
their  lives  shut  up  within  doors,  and,  when  they  take  a 
journey,  are  carried  in  close  tents,  curtained  in  on  all 
sides,  and  set  upon  a  wagon.  Such  a  travelling  carriage 
being  prepared  for  Themistocles,  they  hid  him  in  it,  and 
carried  him  on  his  journey,  and  told  those  whom  they  met 
or  spoke  with  upon  the  road  that  they  were  conveying  a 
young  Greek  woman  out  of  Ionia  to  a  nobleman  at  court. 

When  Themistocles  was  come  to  the  critical  point,  he 
applied  himself  first  to  Artabanus,  commander  of  a  thou- 
sand men,  telling  him  that  he  was  a  Greek,  and  desired  to 
speak  with  the  king  about  important  affairs  concerning 
which  the  king  was  extremely  solicitous.  Artabanus  an- 
swered him,  "  O  stranger,  the  laws  of  men  are  different, 
and  one  thing  is  honorable  to  one  man,  and  to  others 
another ;  but  it  is  honorable  for  all  to  honor  and  observe 
their  own  laws.  It  is  the  habit  of  the  Greeks,  we  are 
told,  to  honor,  above  all  things,  liberty  and  equality;  but 
amongst   our  many  excellent  laws,  we  account   this   the 


THEMISTOCLES.  31 

most  excellent,  to  honor  the  king,  and  to  worship  him,  as 
the  image  of  the  great  preserver  of  the  universe;  if,  then, 
you  shall  consent  to  our  laws,  and  fall  down  before  the 
king  and  worship  him,  you  may  both  see  him  and  speak 
to  him;  but  if  your  mind  be  otherwise,  you  must  make 
use  of  others  to  intercede  for  you,  for  it  is  not  the  national 
custom  here  for  the  king  to  give  audience  to  any  one  that 
doth  not  fall  down  before  him."  Themistocles,  hearing 
this,  replied,  "  Artabanus,  I  that  come  hither  to  increase 
the  power  and  glory  of  the  king,  will  not  only  submit 
myself  to  his  laws,  since  so  it  hath  pleased  the  god  who 
exalteth  the  Persian  empire  to  this  greatness,  but  will  also 
cause  many  more  to  be  worshippers  and  adorers  of  the 
king.  Let  not  this,  therefore,  be  an  impediment  why  I 
should  not  communicate  to  the  king  what  I  have  to  im- 
part." Artabanus  asking  him,  "Who  must  we  tell  him 
that  you  are  ?  for  your  words  signify  you  to  be  no  ordi- 
nary person,"  Themistocles  answered,  "No  man,  O  Arta- 
banus, must  be  informed  of  this  before  the  king  himself." 

When  he  was  introduced  to  the  king,  and  had  paid  his 
reverence  to  him,  he  stood  silent,  till  the  king  commanding 
the  interpreter  to  ask  him  who  he  was,  he  replied,  "  O 
king,  I  am  Themistocles  the  Athenian,  driven  into  banish- 
ment by  the  Greeks.  The  evils  that  I  have  done  to  the 
Persians  are  numerous ;  but  my  benefits  to  them  yet 
greater,  in  withholding  the  Greeks  from  pursuit,  so  soon 
as  the  deliverance  of  my  own  country  allowed  me  to  show 
kindness  also  to  you.  I  come  with  a  mind  suited  to  my 
present  calamities ;  prepared  alike  for  favors  and  for 
anger;  to  w^elcome  your  gracious  reconciliation,  and  to 
deprecate  your  wrath.  Take  my  own  countrymen  for 
witnesses  of  the  services  I  have  done  for  Persia,  and  make 


32  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

use  of  this  occasion  to  show  the  world  your  virtue,  rather 
than  to  satisfy  your  indignation.  If  you  save  me,  you 
will  save  your  suppliant ;  if  otherwise,  you  will  destroy  an 
enemy  of  the  Greeks."  He  talked  also  of  divine  admo- 
nitions, such  as  the  vision  which  he  saw  at  Nicogenes' 
house,  and  the  direction  given  him  by  the  oracle  of  Do- 
dona,  where  Jupiter  commanded  him  to  go  to  him  that 
had  a  name  like  his,  by  which  he  understood  that  he  was 
sent  from  Jupiter  to  him,  seeing  that  they  both  were  great, 
and  had  the  name  of  kings. 

The  king  heard  him  attentively,  and,  though  he  admired 
his  temper  and  courage,  gave  him  no  answer  at  that  time ; 
but,  when  he  was  with  his  intimate  friends,  rejoiced  in  his 
great  good  fortune,  and  esteemed  himself  very  happy  in 
this,  and  prayed  to  his  god  Arimanius,  that  all  his  enemies 
might  be  ever  of  the  same  mind  with  the  Greeks,  to  abuse 
and  expel  the  bravest  men  amongst  them.  Then  he  sacri- 
ficed to  the  gods,  and  presently  fell  to  drinking,  and  was 
so  well  pleased,  that  in  the  night,  in  the  middle  of  his 
sleep,  he  cried  out  for  joy  three  times,  "  I  have  Themisto- 
cles  the  Athenian." 

In  the  morning,  calling  together  the  chief  of  his  court, 
he  had  Themistocles  brought  before  him,  who  expected  no 
good  of  it,  when  he  saw,  for  example,  the  guards  fiercely 
set  against  him  as  soon  as  they  learnt  his  name,  and  giving 
him  ill  language.  As  he  came  forward  towards  the  king, 
who  was  seated,  the  rest  keeping  silence,  passing  by  Rox- 
anes,  a  commander  of  a  thousand  men,  he  heard  him,  with  a 
slight  groan,  say,  without  stirring  out  of  his  place,  ''  You 
subtle  Greek  serpent,  the  king's  good  genius  hath  brought 
thee  hither."  Yet,  when  he  came  into  the  presence,  and 
again  fell  down,  the  king  saluted  him,  and  spake  to  him 


THEMTSTOCLES.  33 

kindly,  telling  him  he  was  now  indebted  to  him  two  hun- 
dred talents;  for  it  was  just  and  reasonable  that  he  should 
receive  the  reward  which  was  proposed  to  whosoever 
should  bring  Themistocles ;  and  promising  much  more, 
and  encouraging  him,  he  commanded  him  to  speak  freely 
what  he  would  concerning  the  affairs  of  Greece.  Themis- 
tocles replied,  that  a  man's  discourse  was  like  to  a  rich 
Persian  carpet,  the  beautiful  figures  and  patterns  of  which 
can  only  be  shown  by  spreading  and  extending  it  out; 
when  it  is  contracted  and  folded  up,  they  are  obscured  and 
lost ;  and,  therefore,  he  desired  time.  The  king  being 
pleased  with  the  comparison,  and  bidding  him  take  what 
time  he  would,  he  desired  a  year ;  in  which  time,  having 
learnt  the  Persian  language  sufficiently,  he  spoke  with  the 
king  by  himself  without  the  help  of  an  interpreter,  it  being 
supposed  that  he  discoursed  only  about  the  affairs  of 
Greece;  but  tliere  happening,  at  the  same  time,  great 
alterations  at  court,  and  removals  of  the  king's  favorites, 
he  drew  upon  himself  the  envy  of  the  great  people,  who 
imagined  that  he  had  taken  the  boldness  to  speak  con- 
cerning them.  For  the  favors  shown  to  other  strangers 
were  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  honors  conferred  on 
him ;  the  king  invited  him  to  partake  of  his  own  pastimes 
and  recreations  both  at  home  and  abroad,  carrying  him 
with  him  a-hunting,  and  made  him  his  intimate  so  far  that 
he  permitted  him  to  see  the  queen-mother,  and  converse 
frequently  with  her.  By  the  king's  command,  he  also  was 
made  acquainted  with  the  Magian  learning. 

When  Demaratus  the  Lacedaemonian,  being  ordered  by 
the  king  to  ask  whatsoever  he  pleased,  and  it  should  im- 
mediately be  granted  him,  desired  that  he  might  make  his 
public  entrance,  and  be  carried  in  state  through  the  city 


34  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

of  Sardis,  with  the  tiara  set  in  the  royal  manner  upon  his 
head,  Mithropaustes,  cousin  to  the  king,  touched  him  on 
the  head,  and  told  him  he  had  no  brains  for  the  royal  tiara 
to  cover,  and  if  Jupiter  should  give  him  his  lightning  and 
thunder,  he  would  not  any  the  more  be  Jupiter  for  that; 
the  king  also  repulsed  him  with  anger,  resolving  never  to 
be  reconciled  to  him,  but  to  be  inexorable  to  all  supplica- 
tions on  his  behalf.  Yet  Themistocles  pacified  him,  and 
prevailed  with  him  to  forgive  him.  And  it  is  reported, 
that  the  succeeding  kings,  in  whose  reigns  there  was  a 
greater  communication  between  the  Greeks  and  Persians, 
when  they  invited  any  considerable  Greek  into  their  ser- 
vice, to  encourage  him,  would  write,  and  promise  him  that 
he  should  be  as  great  with  them  as  Themistocles  had  been. 
They  relate,  also,  how  Themistocles,  when  he  was  in  great 
prosperity,  and  courted  by  many,  seeing  himself  splendidly 
served  at  his  table,  turned  to  his  children  and  said,  "  Chil- 
dren, we  had  been  undone  if  we  had  not  been  undone." 
Most  writers  say  that  he  had  three  cities  given  him.  Mag- 
nesia, My  us,  and  Lampsacus,  to  maintain  him  in  bread, 
meat,  and  wine.  Neanthes  of  Cyzicus,  and  Phanias,  add 
two  more,  the  city  of  Palaescepsis,  to  provide  him  with 
clothes,  and  Percote,  with  bedding  and  furniture  for  his 
house. 

As  he  was  going  down  towards  the  sea-coast  to  take  meas- 
ures against  Greece,  a  Persian  whose  name  was  Epixyes, 
governor  of  the  upper  Phrygia,  laid  wait  to  kill  him,  hav- 
ing for  that  purpose  provided  a  long  time  before  a  number 
of  Pisidians,  w^ho  were  to  set  upon  him  when  he  should " 
stop  to  rest  at  a  city  that  is  called  Lion's-head.  But 
Themistocles,  sleeping  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  saw  the 
Mother  of  the  gods  appear  to  him  in  a  dream  and  say  unto 


THEMISTOCLES.  35 

him,  "  Themistocles,  keep  back  from  the  Lion's-head,  for 
fear  you  fall  into  the  lion's  jaws ;  for  this  advice  I  expect 
that  your  daughter  Mnesiptolema  should  be  my  servant." 
Themistocles  was  much  astonished,  and,  when  he  had  made 
his  vows  to  the  goddess,  left  the  broad  road,  and,  making 
a  circuit,  went  another  way,  changing  his  intended  station 
to  avoid  that  place,  and  at  night  took  up  his  rest  in  the 
fields.  But  one  of  the  sumpter-horses,  which  carried  the 
furniture  for  his  tent,  having  fallen  that  day  into  the  river, 
his  servants  spread  out  the  tapestry,  which  was  wet,  and 
hung  it  up  to  dry  ;  in  the  mean  time  the  Pisidians  made 
towards  them  with  their  swords  drawn,  and,  not  discern- 
ing exactly  by  the  moon  what  it  was  that  was  stretched 
out,  thought  it  to  be  the  tent  of  Themistocles,  and  that 
they  should  find  him  resting  himself  within  it;  but  when 
they  came  near,  and  lifted  up  the  hangings,  those  who 
watched  there  fell  upon  them  and  took  them.  Themisto- 
cles, having  escaped  this  great  danger,  in  admiration  of  the 
goodness  of  the  goddess  that  appeared  to  him,  built,  in 
memory  of  it,  a  temple  in  the  city  of  Magnesia,  which  he 
dedicated  to  Dindymene,  Mother  of  the  gods,  in  which  he 
consecrated  and  devoted  his  daughter  Mnesiptolema  to  her 
service. 

When  he  came  to  Sardis,  he  visited  the  temples  of  the 
gods,  and  observing,  at  his  leisure,  their  buildings,  orna- 
ments, and  the  number  of  their  offerings,  he  saw  in  the 
temple  of  the  Mother  of  the  gods,  the  statue  of  a  virgin  in 
brass,  two  cubits  high,  called  the  water-bringer.  Themis- 
tocles had  caused  this  to  be  made  and  set  up  when  he  was 
surveyor  of  waters  at  Athens,  out  of  the  fines  of  those 
whom  he  detected  in  drawing  off  and  diverting  the  public 

Cubit :  eighteen  inches. 


36  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

water  by  pipes  for  their  private  use ;  and  whether  he  had 
some  regret  to  see  this  image  in  captivity,  or  was  desirous 
to  let  the  Athenians  see  in  what  great  credit  and  authority 
he  was  with  the  king,  he  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the 
governor  of  Lydia  to  persuade  him  to  send  this  statue 
back  to  Athens,  which  so  enraged  the  Persian  officer,  that 
he  told  him  he  would  write  the  king  word  of  it.  Themis- 
tocles,  being  affrighted  hereat,  got  access  to  his  wives  and 
concubines,  by  presents  of  money  to  whom,  he  appeased 
the  fury  of  the  governor ;  and  afterw^ards  behaved  with 
more  reserve  and  circumspection,  fearing  the  envy  of  the 
Persians,  and  did  not,  as  Theopompus  writes,  continue  to 
travel  about  Asia,  but  lived  quietly  in  his  own  house  in 
Magnesia,  where  for  a  long  time  he  passed  his  days  in 
great  security,  being  courted  by  all,  and  enjoying  rich 
presents,  and  honored  equally  with  the  greatest  persons 
in  the  Persian  empire ;  the  king,  at  that  time,  not  mind- 
ing his  concerns  with  Greece,  being  taken  up  with  the 
affairs  of  Inner  Asia. 

But  when  Egypt  revolted,  being  assisted  by  the  Athe- 
nians, and  the  Greek  galleys  roved  about  as  far  as  Cyprus 
and  Cilicia,  and  Cimon  had  made  himself  master  of  the 
seas,  the  king  turned  his  thoughts  thither,  and,  bending 
his  mind  chiefly  to  resist  the  Greeks,  and  to  check  the 
growth  of  their  power  against  him,  began  to  raise  forces, 
and  send  out  commanders,  and  to  despatch  messengers  to 
Themistocles  at  Magnesia,  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his  prom- 
ise, and  to  summon  him  to  act  against  the  Greeks.  Yet 
this  did  not  increase  his  hatred  nor  exasperate  him  against 
the  Athenians,  neither  was  he  any  way  elevated  with  the 
thoughts  of  the  honor  and  powerful  command  he  was  to 
have  in  this  war;  but  judging,  perhaps,  that  the  object 


THEMISTOCLES.  37 

would  not  be  attained,  the  Greeks  having  at  that  time, 
beside  other  great  commanders,  Cimon,  in  particular,  who 
was  gaining  wonderful  military  successes ;  but  chiefly, 
being  ashamed  to  sully  the  glory  of  his  former  great  ac- 
tions, and  of  his  many  victories  and  trophies,  he  determined 
to  put  a  conclusion  to  his  life,  agreeable  to  its  previous 
course.  He  sacrificed  to  the  gods, and  invited  his  friends; 
and,  having  entertained  them  and  shaken  hands  with  them, 
drank  bull's  blood,  as  is  the  usual  story ;  as  others  state, 
a  poison  producing  instant  death ;  and  ended  his  days  in 
the  city  of  Magnesia,  having  lived  sixty-five  years,  most  of 
which  he  had  spent  in  politics  and  in  the  wars,  in  govern- 
ment and  command.  The  king,  being  informed  of  the 
cause  and  manner  of  his  death,  admired  him  more  than 
ever,  and  continued  to  show  kindness  to  his  friends  and 
relations. 


'2 


INTRODUCTION   TO   PERICLES. 

After  the  banishment  of  Themistocles  the  war  with 
Persia  continued  for  a  few  years,  but  the  Persians  never 
ventured  back  to  Greece.  And  now,  by  the  victories  of 
Marathon  and  Salamis,  and  by  the  leading  part  she  had 
taken  all  through  the  war,  Athens  had  gained  great  glory, 
and  came  to  be  looked  up  to  quite  as  much  as  Sparta,  as 
the  head  of  the  Grecian  states.  The  cities  of  the  main- 
land still  followed  Sparta ;  but  the  islands  and  maritime 
towns  gathered  themselves  into  a  league,  and  made  Athens 
the  head  of  it.  The  place  of  meeting  for  the  league,  and  its 
treasury,  were  in  Delos,  a  small  island  of  the  JSgean  Sea, 
and  it  was  called  the  Confederacy  of  Delos ;  but  it  was  all 
under  the  control  of  Athens,  and  Athens  now  became  very 
rich  and  powerful,  carried  on  wars  in  many  parts,  —  some  of 
them  very  unjust  ones,  —  and  built  magnificent  temples, 
adorning  them  with  beautiful  sculpture  and  painting.  It 
was  the  most  splendid  period  of  art  that  the  world  has 
ever  known ;  and  because  the  most  influential  citizen  of 
Athens  was  named  Pericles,  this  period  of  Athenian  pros- 
perity is  called  the  Age  of  Pericles. 


PERICLES.  89 


PERICLES. 


TDERICLES  was  of  the  noblest  birth,  both  on  his  father's 
-^  and  mother's  side.  Damon,  his  teacher,  being  a  sophist, 
out  of  policy,  sheltered  himself  under  the  profession  of 
music,  to  conceal  from  people  in  general  his  skill  in  other 
things,  and  under  this  pretence  attended  Pericles,  the 
young  athlete  of  politics,  so  to  say,  as  his  training-master 
in  these  exercises.  Damon's  lyre,  however,  did  not  prove 
altogether  a  successful  blind;  he  was  banished  the  coun- 
try by  ostracism  for  ten  years,  as  a  dangerous  intermeddler 
and  a  favorer  of  arbitrary  power.  Pericles  also  was  a 
hearer  of  Zeno,  who  treated  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
also  perfected  himself  in  an  art  of  his  own  for  refuting 
and  silencing  opponents  in  argument. 

But  he  that  saw  most  of  Pericles,  and  furnished  him 
most  especially  with  a  weight  and  grandeur  of  sense,  supe- 
rior to  all  arts  of  popularity,  and  in  general  gave  him  his 
elevation  and  sublimity  of  purpose  and  of  character,  was 
Anaxagoras.  For  this  man,  Pericles  entertained  an  ex- 
traordinary esteem  and  admiration,  and  filling  himself  with 
this  lofty,  and,  as  they  call  it,  up-in-the-air  sort  of  thought, 
derived  hence  not  merely,  as  was  natural,  elevation  of  pur- 
pose and  dignity  of  language,  raised  far  above  the  base 
and  dishonest  buffooneries  of  mob-eloquence,  but,  besides 

Sophist :  a  wise  man,  a  philosopher  of  a  high  order  of  merit ;  but  grad- 
ually the  word  came  to  mean  a  mere  pretender  to  knowledge.    M. 


40  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

this,  a  composure  of  countenance,  and  a  serenity  and  calm- 
ness in  all  liis  movements,  which  no  occurrence  whilst  he 
was  speaking  could  disturb,  a  sustained  and  even  tone  of 
voice,  and  various  other  advantages  of  a  similar  kind, 
which  produced  the  greatest  effect  on  his  hearers.  Once, 
after  being  reviled  and  ill-spoken  of  all  day  long  in  his 
own  hearing,  by  some  vile  and  abandoned  fellow,  in  the 
open  market-place,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  despatch 
of  some  urgent  affair,  he  continued  his  business  in  perfect 
silence,  and  in  the  evening  returned  home  composedly,  the 
man  still  dogging  him  at  the  heels,  and  pelting  him  all  the 
way  with  abuse  and  foul  language ;  and  stepping  into  his 
house,  it  being  by  this  time  dark,  he  ordered  one  of  his 
servants  to  take  a  light,  and  go  along  with  the  man  and 
see  him  safe  home.  Ion,  the  dramatic  poet,  says,  it  is  true, 
that  Pericles'  manner  in  company  was  somewhat  over- 
assuming  and  pompous;  and  that  into  his  high  bearing 
there  entered  a  good  deal  of  slightingness  and  scorn  of 
others ;  he  reserves  his  commendation  for  Cimon's  ease 
and  pliancy  and  natural  grace  in  society.  Zeno  used  to 
bid  those  who  called  Pericles'  gravity  the  affectation  of  a 
charlatan,  to  go  and  affect  the  like  themselves ;  inasmuch 
as  this  mere  counterfeiting  might  in  time  insensibly  instil 
into  them  a  real  love  and  knowledge  of  those  noble  quali- 
ties. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  advantages  which  Pericles  de- 
rived from  Anaxagoras'  acquaintance;  he  seems  also  to 
have  become,  by  his  instructions,  superior  to  that  supersti- 
tion with  which  an  ignorant  wonder  at  appearances,  for 
example,  in  the  heavens,  possesses  the  minds  of  people 
unacquainted  with  their  causes,  eager  for  the  supernatural, 
and  excitable  through  an  inexperience  which  the  knowl- 


PERICLES.  41 

edge  of  natural  causes  removes,  replacing  wild  and  timid- 
superstition  by  the  good  hope  and  assurance  of  an  intelli- 
gent piety. 

Pericles,  while  yet  but  a  young  man,  stood  in  consider- 
able apprehension  of  the  people,  as  he  was  thought  in  face 
and  figure  to  be  very  like  the  tyrant  Pisistratus ;  and 
those  of  great  age  remarked  upon  the  sweetness  of  his 
voice,  and  his  volubility  and  rapidity  in  speaking,  and  were 
struck  with  amazement  at  the  resemblance.  Reflecting, 
too,  that  he  had  a  considerable  estate,  and  was  descended 
of  a  noble  family,  and  had  friends  of  great  influence,  he 
was  fearful  all  this  might  bring  him  to  be  banished  as  a 
dangerous  person  ;  and  for  this  reason  meddled  not  at  all 
with  state  affairs,  but  in  military  service  showed  himself 
of  a  brave  and  intrepid  nature.  But  when  Aristides  was 
now  dead,  and  Themistocles  driven  out,  and  Cimon  was  for 
the  most  part  kept  abroad  by  the  expeditions  he  made  in 
parts  out  of  Greece,  Pericles,  seeing  things  in  this  posture, 
now  advanced  and  took  his  side,  not  with  the  rich  and  few, 
but  with  the  many  and  poor,  contrary  to  his  natural  bent. 

Tyrant :  originally  one  who  made  himself  a  ruler  by  unlawful  means,  as  in 
the  case  of  Pisistratus,  who,  though  a  usurper,  was  yet  a  mild  and  equitable 
governor.  But  as  power  thus  obtained  is  generally  abused,  the  word  gradually 
came  to  mean  a  harsh  and  oppressive  ruler. 

Aristides  and  Themistocles,  the  two  leading  men  of  their  time,  were  great 
rivals.  Themistocles  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  about  the  banishment  of 
Aristides.  When  the  people  were  voting  on  the  matter,  it  is  said,  an  ignorant 
citizen  stepped  up  to  Aristides,  and  asked  him  to  write  his  own  name  on  the 
voting-shell.  Whereupon  he  inquired,  *'Has  Aristides  ever  done  you  any  in- 
jury, that  you  desire  his  banishment  ?  "  **  No,'*  replied  the  man  ;  "  but  I  am 
tired  of  hearing  him  always  styled  The  Just."  Aristides  was  soon  recalled, 
however,  and  rendered  his  country  valuable  assistance.  Aristides  died  in 
extreme  old  age,  after  an  honorable  life  of  service,  not  having  accumulated 
enough  property  to  defray  his  burial  expenses.  It  is  the  crowning  glory  of 
Aristides  that  he  sought  to  accomplish  his  objects  by  honorable  means  only; 
while  Themistocles  would  stoop  to  very  unscrupulous  acts  to  attain  his  ends. 


42  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

which  was  far  from  democratical ;  but,  most  likely,  fear- 
ing he  might  fall  under  suspicion  of  aiming  at  arbitrary 
power,  and  seeing  Cimon  on  the  side  of  the  aristocracy, 
and  much  beloved  by  the  better  and  more  distinguished 
people,  he  joined  the  party  of  the  people,  with  a  view  at 
once  both  to  secure  himself  and  procure  means  against 
Cimon. 

He  immediately  entered,  also,  on  quite  a  new  course  of 
life  and  management  of  his  time.  For  he  was  never  seen 
to  walk  in  any  street  but  that  which  led  to  the  market- 
place and  the  council-hall,  and  he  avoided  invitations  of 
friends  to  supper,  and  all  friendly  visiting  and  intercourse 
whatever ;  in  all  the  time  he  had  to  do  with  the  public, 
which  was  not  a  little,  with  one  exception,  he  was  never 
known  to  have  gone  to  any  of  his  friends  to  a  supper ;  for 
these  friendly  meetings  are  very  quick  to  defeat  any  as- 
sumed superiority,  and  in  intimate  familiarity  an  exterior 
of  gravity  is  hard  to  maintain.  Real  excellence,  indeed,  is 
most  recognized  when  most  openly  looked  into ;  and  in 
really  good  men,  nothing  which  meets  the  eyes  of  external 
observers  so  truly  deserves  their  admiration  as  their  daily 
common  life  does  that  of  their  nearer  friends.  Pericles, 
however,  to  avoid  any  feeling  of  commonness,  or  any  sati- 
ety on  the  part  of  the  people,  presented  himself  at  inter- 
vals only,  not  speaking  to  every  business,  nor  at  all  times 
coming  into  the  assembly,  but  reserving  himself  for  great 
occasions,  while  matters  of  lesser  importance  were  de- 
spatched by  friends  or  other  speakers  under  his  direction. 

The  style  of  speaking  most  consonant  to  his  form  of  life 
and  the  dignity  of  his  views  he  found  in  the  tones  of  that 
instrument  with  which  Anaxagoras  had  furnished  him  ;  of 
his  teaching  he  continually  availed  himself,  and  deepened 


PERICLES.  4B 

tlie  colors  of  rhetoric  with  the  dye  of  natural  science.  For 
having,  in  addition  to  his  great  natural  genius,  attained, 
by  the  study  of  nature,  to  use  the  words  of  the  divine 
Plato,  this  height  of  intelligence,  and  this  universal  con- 
summating power,  and  drawing  hence  whatever  might  be 
of  advantage  to  him  in  the  art  of  speaking,  he  showed 
himself  far  superior  to  all  others.  Upon  which  account, 
they  say,  he  had  his  nickname  given  him,  though  some  are 
of  opinion  he  was  named  the  Olympian  from  the  public 
buildings  with  which  he  adorned  the  city;  and  others 
again,  from  his  great  power  in  public  affairs,  whether  of 
war  or  peace.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  the  confluence  of 
many  attributes  may  have  conferred  it  on  him.  However, 
the  comedies  represented  at  the  time,  which,  both  in  good 
earnest  and  in  merriment,  let  fly  many  hard  words  at  him, 
plainly  show  that  he  got  that  appellation  especially  from 
his  speaking;  they  speak  of  his  "thundering  and  light- 
ning "  when  he  harangued  the  people,  and  of  his  wielding 
a  dreadful  thunderbolt  in  his  tongue. 

Thucydides,  one  of  the  noble  and  distinguished  citizens, 
had  been  his  greatest  opponent ;  and,  when  Archidamus, 
the  king  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  asked  him  whether  he  or 
Pericles  were  the  better  wrestler,  he  made  this  answer : 
"  When  I,"  said  he,  "  have  thrown  him  and  given  him  a 
fair  fall,  by  persisting  that  he  had  no  fall,  he  gets  the  bet- 
ter of  me,  and  makes  the  bystanders,  in  spite  of  their  own 
eyes,  believe  him."  The  truth,  however,  is,  that  Pericles 
himself  was  very  careful  what  and  how  he  was  to  speak, 
insomuch  that,  whenever  he  went  up  to  the  hustings,  he 
prayed  the  gods  that  no  one  word  might  unawares  slip 
from  him,  unsuitable  to  the  matter  and  the  occasion. 

Olympian :  god-like.    Mt.  Olympus,  a  very  high  mountain  in  Greece,  sup 
posed  to  have  been  the  home  of  the  gods. 


44  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

When  on  a  time  Sophocles,  who  was  his  fellow-commis- 
sioner in  the  generalship,  was  going  on  board  with  him, 
and  praised  the  beauty  of  a  youth  they  met  with  in  the 
way  to  the  ship,  "  Sophocles,"  said  he,  "  a  general  ought 
not  only  to  have  clean  hands,  but  also  clean  eyes."  In 
his  encomium  on  those  who  fell  in  battle  at  Samos,  he  said 
they  were  become  immortal,  as  the  gods  were.  "  For," 
said  he,  "  we  do  not  see  them  themselves,  but  only  by  the 
honors  we  pay  them,  and  by  the  benefits  they  do  us, 
attribute  to  them  immortality ;  and  the  like  attributes  be- 
long also  to  those  that  die  in  the  service  of  their  country." 

Thucydides  describes  the  rule  of  Pericles  as  an  aris- 
tocratical  government,  that  went  by  the  name  of  a 
democracy,  but  was,  indeed,  the  supremacy  of  a  single 
great  man.  Many  others  say,  on  the  contrary,  that 
the  common  people  were  first  encouraged  and  led  on  by 
him  to  such  evils  as  appropriations  of  subject  territory, 
allowances  for  attending  theatres,  payments  for  perform- 
ing public  duties,  and  by  these  bad  habits  were,  under  the 
influence  of  his  public  measures,  changed  from  a  sober, 
thrifty  people,  that  maintained  themselves  by  their  own 
labors,  to  lovers  of  expense,  intemperance,  and  license. 
Let  us  however  examine  the  cause  of  this  change  by  the 
actual  matters  of  fact. 

At  the  first,  as  has  been  said,  when  Pericles  set  himself 
against  Cimon's  great  authority,  he  did  caress  the  people. 
Finding  himself  come  short  of  his  competitor  in  wealth 
and  money,  by  which  advantages  the  other  was  enabled 
to  take  care  of  the  poor,  inviting  every  day  some  one  or 
other  of  the  citizens  that  was  in  want,  to  supper,  and 
bestowing  clothes  on  the  aged  people,  and  breaking  down 
the  hedges  and  enclosures  of  his  grounds,  that  all,  that 


PERICLES.  45 

would,  might  freely  gather  what  fruit  they  pleased,  Peri- 
cles, thus  outdone  in  popular  arts,  turned  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  public  moneys;  and  in  a  short  time  having 
bought  the  people  over,  what  with  moneys  allowed  for 
shows  and  for  service  on  juries,  and  what  with  other  forms 
of  pay  and  largess,  he  made  use  of  them  against  the  coun- 
cil of  Areopagus,  of  which  he  himself  was  no  member,  as 
having  never  been  appointed  by  lot  either  chief  arclu)n,  or 
lawgiver,  or  king,  or  captain.  For  from  of  old  these  offices 
were  conferred  on  persons  by  lot,  and  they  who  had 
acquitted  themselves  duly  in  the  discharge  of  them  were 
advanced  to  the  court  of  Areopagus.  And  so  Pericles, 
having  secured  his  power  and  interest  with  the  populace, 
directed  the  exertions  of  his  party  against  this  council 
with  such  success,  that  most  of  those  causes  and  matters 
which  had  been  used  to  be  tried  there,  were  removed  from 
its  cognizance  ;  Cimon,  also,  was  banished  by  ostracism  as 
a  favorer  of  the  Lacedaemonians  and  a  hater  of  the  people, 
though  in  wealth  and  noble  birth  he  was  among  the  first, 
and  had  won  several  most  glorious  victories  over  the  bar- 
barians, and  had  filled  the  city  with  money  and  spoils  of 
war ;  as  is  recorded  in  the  history  of  his  life.  So  vast  an 
authority  had  Pericles  obtained  among  the  people. 

The  ostracism  was  limited  by  law  to  ten  years ;  but  the 
Lacedaemonians,  in  the  mean  time,  entering  with  a  great 
army  into  the  territory  of  Tanagra,  and  the  Athenians 
going  out  against  them,  Cimon,  coming  from  his  banish- 
ment before  his  time  was  out,  put  himself  in  arms  and 

Largess:  bounty. 

Archon:  one  of  the  nine  magistrates  of  Athens. 

Areopagus:  Tlie  highest  tribunal  of  Athens,  famous  for  the  justice  and 
impartiality  of  its  decisions.  It  was  originally  held  on  the  height  called 
Areopagus  or  Mars'  Hill.    Compare  Acts  xvii.    M. 


46  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

array  with  those  of  his  fellow-citizens  that  were  of  his  own 
tribe,  and  desired  by  his  deeds  to  wipe  off  the  suspicion  of 
his  favoring  the  Lacedaemonians,  by  venturing  his  own 
person  along  with  his  countrymen.  But  Pericles'  friends, 
gathering  in  a  body,  forced  him  to  retire  as  a  banished 
man.  For  which  cause  also  Pericles  seems  to  have  exerted 
himself  more  in  that  than  in  any  battle,  and  to  have  been 
conspicuous  above  all  for  his  exposure  of  himself  to  dan- 
ger. All  Cimon's  friends,  also,  to  a  man,  fell  together  side 
by  side,  whom  Pericles  had  accused  with  him  of  taking 
part  with  the  Lacedaemonians.  *' Defeated  in  this  battle  on 
their  own  frontiers,  and  expecting  a  new  and  perilous 
attack  with  return  of  spring,  the  Athenians  now  felt  regret 
and  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  Cimon,  and  repentance  for  their 
expulsion  of  him.  Pericles,  being  sensible  of  their  feelings, 
did  not  hesitate  or  delay  to  gratify  it,  and  himself  made 
the  motion  for  recalling  him  home.  He,  upon  his  return, 
concluded  a  peace  betwixt  the  two  cities ;  for  the  Lace- 
daemonians entertained  as  kindly  feelings  towards  him  as 
they  did  the  reverse  towards  Pericles  and  the  other  popu- 
lar leaders.  '  ^^D 

Yet  some  there  are  who  say  that  Pericles  did  not  ph)- 
pose  the  order  for  Cimon's  return  till  some  private  articles 
of  agreement  had  been  made  between  them,  and  this  by 
means  of  Elpinice,  Cimon's  sister;  that  Cimon,  namely, 
should  go  out  to  sea  with  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  ships, 
and  be  commander-in-chief  abroad,  with  a  design  to  reduce 
the  king  of  Persia's  territories,  and  that  Pericles  should 
have  the  power  at  home. 

This  Elpinice,  it  was  thought,  had  before  this  time  pro- 
cured some  favor  for  her  brother  Cimon  at  Pericles' 
hands,  and  induced  him  to  be  more  remiss  and  gentle  in 


PEKICLES.  47 

urging  the  charge  when  Cimon  was  tried  for  his  liie ;  for 
Pericles  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  com- 
mons to  plead  against  him.  And  when  Elpinice  came  and 
besought  him  in  her  brother's  behalf,  he  answered,  with  a 
smile,  "  O  Elpinice,  you  are  too  old  a  woman  to  undertake 
such  business  as  this."  But,  when  he  appeared  to  impeach 
him,  he  stood  up  but  once  to  speak,  merely  to  acquit  him- 
self of  his  commission,  and  went  out  of  court,  having  done 
Cimon  the  least  prejudice  of  any  of  his  accusers. 

Cimon,  while  he  was  admiral,  ended  his  days  in  the  isle 
of  Cyprus.  And  the  aristocratical  party,  seeing  that  Peri- 
cles was  already  before  this  grown  to  be  the  greatest  and 
foremost  man  of  all  the  city,  but  nevertheless  wishing 
there  should  be  somebody  set  up  against  him,  to  blunt 
and  turn  the  edge  of  his  power,  that  it  might  not  alto- 
gether prove  a  monarchy,  put  forward  Thucydides,  a  dis- 
creet person,  and  a  near  kinsman  of  Cimon's,  to  conduct 
the  opposition  against  him;  who,  indeed,  though  less 
skilled  in  warlike  affairs  than  Cimon  was,  yet  was  better 
versed  in  speaking  and  political  business,  and  keeping 
close  guard  in  the  city,  and  engaging  with  Pericles  on  the 
hustings,  in  a  short  time  brought  the  government  to  an 
equality  of  parties.  For  he  would  not  suffer  those  who 
were  called  the  honest  and  good  (persons  of  worth  and 
distinction)  to  be  scattered  up  and  down  and  mix  them- 
selves and  be  lost  among  the  populace,  as  formerly,  dimin- 
ishing and  obscuring  their  superiority  amongst  the  masses  ; 
but  taking  them  apart  by  themselves  and  uniting  them  in 
one  body,  by  their  combined  weight  he  was  able,  as  it  were 
upon  the  balance,  to  make  a  counterpoise  to  the  other 
party. 

For,  indeed,  there  was  from  the  beginning  a  sort  of  con- 


48  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

cealed  split,  or  seam,  as  it  might  be  in  a  piece  of  iron, 
marking  the  different  popular  and  aristocratical  tenden- 
cies; but  the  open  rivalry  and  contention  of  these  two 
opponents  made  the  gash  deep,  and  severed  the  city  into 
the  two  parties  of  the  people  and  the  few.  And  so  Peri- 
cles, at  that  time  more  than  at  any  other,  let  loose  the 
reins  to  the  people,  and  made  his  policy  subservient  to 
their  pleasure,  contriving  continually  to  have  some  great 
public  show  or  solemnity,  some  banquet,  or  some  proces- 
sion or  other  in  the  town  to  please  them,  coaxing  his 
countrymen  like  children,  with  such  delights  and  pleas- 
ures as  were  not,  however,  unedifying.  Besides  that  every 
year  he  sent  out  threescore  galleys,  on  board  of  which 
there  went  numbers  of  the  citizens,  who  were  in  pay  eight 
months,  learning  at  the  same  time  and  practising  the  art 
of  seamanship. 

He  sent,  moreover,  a  thousand  of  them  into  the  Cher- 
sonese as  planters,  to  share  the  land  among  them  by  lot, 
and  five  hundred  more  into  the  isle  of  Naxos,  and  half 
that  number  to  Andros,  a  thousand  into  Thrace,  and  others 
into  Italy.  And  this  he  did  to  ease  and  discharge  the  city 
of  an  idle,  and,  by  reason  of  their  idleness,  a  busy,  med- 
dling crowd  of  people ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  meet  the 
necessities  and  restore  the  fortunes  of  the  poor  townsmen, 
and  to  intimidate,  also,  and  check  their  allies  from  attempt- 
ing any  change,  by  posting  such  garrisons,  as  it  were,  in 
the  midst  of  them. 

That  which  gave  most  pleasure  and  ornament  to  the 
city  of  Athens,  and  the  greatest  admiration  and  even 
astonishment  to  all  strangers,  and  that  which  now  is 
Greece's  only  evidence  that  the  power  she  boasts  of  and 
her  ancient  wealth  are  no  romance  or  idle  story,  was  his 


l^ERICLES.  49 

constructions  of  the  public  and  sacred  buildings.  Yet 
this  was  that  of  all  his  actions  in  the  government  which 
his  enemies  most  looked  askance  upon  and  cavilled  at  in 
the  popular  assemblies,  crying  out  how  that  the  common- 
wealth of  Athens  had  lost  its  reputation  and  was  ill-spoken 
of  abroad  for  removing  the  common  treasure  of  the  Greeks 
from  the  isle  of  Delos  into  their  own  custody ;  and  how 
that  their  fairest  excuse  for  so  doing,  namely,  that  they 
took  it  away  for  fear  the  barbarians  should  seize  it,  and  on 
purpose  to  secure  it  in  a  safe  place,  this  Pericles  had  made 
unavailable,  and  how  that  "  Greece  cannot  but  resent  it 
as  an  insufferable  affront,  and  consider  herself  to  be  tyran- 
nized over  openly,  when  she  sees  the  treasure,  which  was 
contributed  by  her  upon  a  necessity  for  the  war,  wantonly 
lavished  out  by  us  upon  our  city,  to  gild  her  all  over,  and 
to  adorn  and  set  her  forth,  as  it  were  some  vain  woman, 
hung  round  with  precious  stones  and  figures  and  temples, 
which  cost  a  world  of  money." 

Pericles,  on  the  other  hand,  informed  the  people,  that 
they  were  in  no  way  obliged  to  give  any  account  of  those 
moneys  to  their  allies,  so  long  as  they  maintained  their 
defence,  and  kept  off  the  barbarians  from  attacking  them ; 
while  in  the  mean  time  they  did  not  so  much  as  supply 
one  horse  or  man  or  ship,  but  only  found  money  for  the 
service  ;  "  which  money,"  said  he,  "  is  not  theirs  that  give 
it,  but  theirs  that  receive  it,  if  so  be  they  perform  the 
conditions  upon  which  they  receive  it."  And  that  it  was 
good  reason,  that,  now  the  city  was  sufficiently  provided 
and  stored  with  all  things  necessary  for  the  war,  they 
should  convert  the  overplus  of  its  wealth  to  such  under- 
takings, as  would  hereafter,  when  completed,  give  them 
eternal  honor,  and,  for  the  present,  while  in  process,  freely 


50  /PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

supply  all  the  inhabitants  with  plenty.  With  their  variety 
of  workmanship  and  of  occasions  for  service,  which  sum- 
mon all  arts  and  trades  and  require  all  hands  to  be  em- 
ployed about  them,  they  do  actually  put  the  whole  city, 
in  a  manner,  into  state-pay ;  while  at  the  same  time  she  is 
both  beautified  and  maintained  by  herself.  For  as  those 
who  are  of  age  and  strength  for  war  are  provided  for  and 
maintained  in  the  armaments  abroad  by  their  pay  out  of 
the  public  stock,  so,  it  being  his  desire  and  design  that  the 
undisciplined  mechanic  multitude  that  stayed  at  home 
should  not  go  without  their  share  of  public  salaries,  and 
yet  should  not  have  them  given  them  for  sitting  still  and 
doing  nothing,  to  that  end  he  thought  fit  to  bring  in  among 
them,  with  the  approbation  of  the  people,  these  vast  proj- 
ects of  buildings  and  designs  of  works,  that  would  be  of 
some  continuance  before  they  were  finished,  and  would 
give  employment  to  numerous  arts,  so  that  the  part  of  the 
people  that  stayed  at  home  might,  no  less  than  those  that 
were  at  sea  or  in  garrisons  or  on  expeditions,  have  a  fair 
and  just  occasion  of  receiving  the  benefit  and  having  their 
share  of  the  public  moneys. 

The  materials  were  stone,  brass,  ivory,  gold,  ebony, 
cypress-wood;  and  the  arts  or  trades  that  wrought  and 
fashioned  them  were  smiths  and  carpenters,  moulders, 
founders  and  braziers,  stone-cutters,  dyers,  goldsmiths, 
ivory-workers,  painters,  embroiderers,  turners ;  those  again 
that  conveyed  them  to  the  town  for  use,  merchants  and 
mariners  and  ship-masters  by  sea,  and  by  land,  cartwrights, 
cattle-breeders,  wagoners,  rope-makers,  flax-workers,  shoe- 
makers and  leather-dressers,  road-makers,  miners.  And 
every  trade^  in  the  same  nature^  as  a  captain  in  an  army 
has  his  particular  company  of  soldiers  under  him,  had  its 


PEiUCLES.  51 

own  hired  company  of  journeymen  and  laborers  belonging 
to  it  banded  together  as  in  array,  to  be  as  it  were  the 
instrument  and  body  for  the  performance  of  the  service. 
Thus,  to  say  all  in  a  word,  the  occasions  aud  services  of 
these  public  works  distributed  plenty  through  every  age 
and  condition. 

As  then  grew  the  works  up,  no  less  stately  in  size  than 
exquisite  in  form,  the  workmen  strove  to  outvie  the 
material  and  the  design  with  the  beauty  of  their  work- 
manship, yet  the  most  wonderful  thing  of  all  was  the 
rapidity  of  their  execution.  Undertakings,  any  one  of 
which  singly  might  have  required,  they  thought,  for  their 
completion,  several  successions  and  ages  of  men,  were 
every  one  of  them  accomplished  in  the  height  and  prime 
of  one  man's  political  service.  Although  they  say,  too, 
that  Zeuxis  once,  having  heard  a  painter  boast  of  despatch- 
ing his  work  with  speed  and  ease,  replied,  "I  take  a  long 
time."  For  ease  and  speed  in  doing  a  thing  do  not  give 
the  work  lasting  solidity  or  exactness  of  beauty;  the 
expenditure  of  time  allowed  to  a  man's  pains  beforehand 
for  the  production  of  a  thing  is  repaid  by  way  of  interest 
with  a  vital  force  for  its  preservation  when  once  produced. 
For  which  reason  Pericles'  works  are  especially  admired, 
as  having  been  made  quickly,  to  last  long.  For  every 
particular  piece  of  his  work  was  immediately,  even  at  that 
time,  for  its  beauty  and  elegance,  antique ;  and  yet  in  its 
vigor  and  freshness  looks  to  this  day  as  if  it  were  just 
executed.  There  is  a  sort  of  bloom  of  newness  upon  those 
works  of  his,  preserving  them  from  the  touch  of  time,  as 
if  they  had  some  perennial  spirit  and  undying  vitality 
mingled  in  the  composition  of  them. 

Phidias  had  the  oversight  of  all  the  works,  and  was  sur- 


62  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

veyor-general,  though  upon  the  various  portions  other 
great  masters  and  workmen  were  employed. 

It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  trace  and  find  out  the 
truth  of  anything  by  history.  On  the  one  hand,  those 
who  afterwards  write  it  find  long  periods  of  time  inter- 
cepting their  view,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  contempo- 
rary records  of  any  actions  and  lives,  partly  through  envy 
and  ill-will,  partly  through  favor  and  flattery,  pervert  and 
distort  truth. 

When  the  orators,  who  sided  with  Thucydides  and  his 
party,  were  at  one  time  crying  out,  as  their  custom  was, 
against  Pericles,  as  one  who  squandered  away  the  public 
money,  and  made  havoc  of  the  state  revenues,  he  rose  in 
the  open  assembly  and  put  the  question  to  the  people, 
whether  they  thought  that  he  had  laid  out  much;  and 
they  saying,  "  Too  much,  a  great  deal,"  "  Then,"  said  he, 
"  since  it  is  so,  let  the  cost  not  go  to  your  account  but  to 
mine  ;  and  let  the  inscription  upon  the  buildings  stand  in 
my  name."  When  they  heard  him  say  thus,  whether  it 
were  out  of  a  surprise  to  see  the  greatness  of  his  spirit,  or 
out  of  emulation  of  the  glory  of  the  works,  they  cried 
aloud,  bidding  him  to  spend  on,  and  lay  out  what  he 
thought  fit  from  the  public  purse,  and  to  spare  no  cost,  till 
all  were  finished. 

At  length,  coming  to  a  final  contest  with  Thucydides, 
which  of  the  two  should  ostracize  the  other  out  of  the 
country,  and  having  gone  through  this  peril,  he  threw  his 
antagonist  out,  and  broke  up  the  confederacy  that  had 
been  organized  against  him.  So  that  now  all  schism  and 
division  being  at  an  end,  and  the  city  brought  to  evenness 
and  unity,  he  got  all  Athens  and  all  affairs  that  pertained 
to  the  Athenians  into  his  own  hands,  their  tributes,  their 


PERICLES.  53 

armies,  and  their  galleys,  the  islands,  the  sea,  and  their 
wide-extended  power,  partly  over  other  Greeks  and  partly 
over  barbarians,  and  all  that  empire,  which  they  possessed, 
founded  and  fortified  upon  subject  nations  and  royal 
friendships  and  alliances. 

After  this  he  was  no  longer  the  sam-e  man  he  had  been 
before,  nor  as  tame  and  gentle  and  familiar  as  formerly 
with  the  populace,  so  as  readily  to  yield  to  their  pleasures 
and  to  comply  with  the  desires  of  the  multitude,  as  a 
steersman  shifts  with  the  winds.  Quitting  that  loose, 
remiss,  and,  in  some  cases,  licentious  court  of  the  popular 
will,  he  turned  those  soft  and  flowery  modulations  to  the 
austerity  of  aristocratical  and  regal  rule ;  and,  employing 
this  uprightly  and  undeviatingly  for  the  country's  best 
interests,  he  was  able  generally  to  lead  the  people  along, 
with  their  own  wills  and  consents,  by  persuading  and 
showing  them  what  was  to  be  done ;  and  sometimes,  too, 
urging  and  pressing  them  forward  extremely  against  their 
will,  he  made  them,  whether  they  would  or  no,  yield  sub- 
mission to  what  was  for  their  advantage.  In  which,  to  say 
the  truth,  he  did  but  like  a  skilful  physician,  who,  in  a 
complicated  and  chronic  disease,  as  he  sees  occasion,  at 
one  while  allows  his  patient  the  moderate  use  of  such 
things  as  please  him,  at  another  while  gives  him  keen 
pains  and  drugs  to  work  the  cure.  For  there  arising  and 
growing  up,  as  was  natural,  all  manner  of  distempered 
feelings  among  a  people  which  had  so  vast  a  command 
and  dominion,  he  alone,  as  a  great  master,  knowing  how 
to  handle  and  deal  fitly  with  each  one  of  them,  and,  in  an 
especial  manner,  making  that  use  of  hopes  and  fears,  as 
his  two  chief  rudders,  with  the  one  to  check  the  career 
of  their  confidence  at  any  time,  with  the  other  to  raise 


54  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

them  up  and  cheer  them  when  under  any  discouragement, 
plainly  showed  by  this  that  rhetoric,  or  the  art  of  speak- 
ing, is,  in  Plato's  language,  the  government  of  the  souls  of 
men,  and  that  her  chief  business  is  to  address  the  affec- 
tions and  passions,  which  are,  as  it  were,  the  strings  and 
keys  to  the  soul,  and  require  a  skilful  and  careful  touch 
to  be  played  on  as  they  should  be.  The  source  of  this 
predominance  was  not  barely  his  power  of  language,  but, 
as  Thucydides  assures  us,  the  reputation  of  his  life  and 
the  confidence  felt  in  his  character ;  his  manifest  freedom 
from  every  kind  of  corruption,  and  superiority  to  all  con- 
siderations of  money.  Notwithstanding  he  had  made  the 
city  Athens,  which  was  great  of  itself,  as  great  and  rich  as 
can  be  imagined,  and  though  he  were  himself  in  power 
and  interest  more  than  equal  to  many  kings  and  absolute 
rulers,  who,  some  of  them,  also  bequeathed  by  will  their 
power  to  their  children,  he,  for  his  part,  did  not  make  the 
patrimony  his  father  left  him  greater  than  it  was  by  one 
drachma. 

Nor  was  all  this  the  luck  of  some  happy  occasion ;  nor 
was  it  the  mere  bloom  and  grace  of  a  policy  that  flourished 
for  a  season ;  but  having  for  forty  years  together  main- 
tained the  first  place  among  statesmen,  after  the  defeat 
and  banishment  of  Thucydides,  for  no  less  than  fifteen 
years  longer,  in  the  exercise  of  one  continuous  unintermit- 
ted  command  in  the  office  of  general,  to  which  he  was 
annually  re-elected,  he  preserved  his  integrity  unspot- 
ted ;  though  otherwise  he  was  not  altogether  idle  or  care- 
less in  looking  after  his  pecuniary  advantage ;  his  paternal 
estate,  which  of  right  belonged  to  him,  he  so  ordered  that 
it   might    neither   through  negligence   be  wasted   or  les- 

Drachma :  about  eighteen  cents. 


PERICLES.  56 

sened,  nor  yet,  being  so  full  of  business  as  he  was,  cost 
him  any  great  trouble  or  time  with  taking  care  of  it ;  and 
put  it  into  such  a  way  of  management  as  he  thought  to  be 
the  most  easy  for  himself,  and  the  most  exact.  All  his 
yearly  products  and  profits  he  sold  together  in  a  lump, 
and  supplied  his  household  needs  afterward  by  buying 
everything  that  he  or  his  family  wanted  out  of  the  mar- 
ket. Upon  which  account  his  children,  when  they  grew 
to  age,  were  not  well  pleased  with  his  management,  and 
the  women  that  lived  with  him  were  treated  with  little 
cost,  and  complained  of  this  way  of  housekeeping,  where 
everything  was  ordered  and  set  down  from  day  to  day, 
and  reduced  to  the  greatest  exactness ;  since  there  was 
not  there,  as  is  usual  in  a  great  family  and  a  plentiful 
estate,  anything  to  spare,  or  over  and  above ;  but  all  that 
'went  out  or  came  in,  all  disbursements  and  all  receipts, 
proceeded,  as  it  were,  by  number  and  measure. 

All  this,  in  truth,  was  very  little  in  harmony  with 
Anaxagoras'  wisdom ;  if,  indeed,  it  be  true  that  he,  by  a 
kind  of  divine  impulse  and  greatness  of  spirit,  voluntarily 
quitted  his  house,  and  left  his  land  to  lie  fallow  and  to  be 
grazed  by  sheep  like  a  common.  But  the  life  of  a  con- 
templative philosopher  and  that  of  an  active  statesman 
are,  I  presume,  not  the  same  thing;  for  the  one  merely 
employs,  upon  great  and  good  objects  of  thought,  an  intel- 
ligence that  requires  no  aid  of  instruments  nor  supply  of 
any  external  materials ;  whereas  the  other,  who  tempers 
and  applies  his  virtue  to  human  uses,  may  have  occasion  for 
affluence,  not  as  a  matter  of  mere  necessity,  but  as  a  noble 
thing ;  which  was  Pericles'  case,  who  relieved  numerous 
poor  citizens. 

However,  there    is    a    story,  that  Anaxagoras    himself. 


56  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

while  Pericles  was  taken  up  with  public  affairs,  lay 
neglected,  and  that,  now  being  grown  old,  he  wrapped 
himself  up  with  a  resolution  to  die  for  want  of  food; 
which,  being  by  chance  brought  to  Pericles'  ear,  he  was 
horror-struck,  and  instantly  ran  thither,  and  used  all  the 
arguments  and  entreaties  he  could  to  him,  lamenting  not 
so  much  Anaxagoras'  condition  as  his  own,  should  he 
lose  such  a  counsellor  as  he  had  found  him  to  be ;  and 
that,  upon  this,  Anaxagoras  unfolded  his  robe,  and  show- 
ing himself,  made  answer:  "Pericles,"  said  he,  "even 
those  who  have  occasion  for  a  lamp  supply  it  with  oil." 

In  his  military  conduct  he  gained  a  great  reputation  for 
wariness;  he  would  not  by  his  good-will  engage  in  any 
fight  which  had  much  uncertainty  or  hazard ;  he  did  not 
envy  the  glory  of  generals  whose  rash  adventures  for- 
tune favored  with  brilliant  success,  however  they  were 
admired  by  others;  nor  did  he  think  them  worthy  his 
imitation,  but  always  used  to  say  to  his  citizens  that,  so  far 
as  lay  in  his  power,  they  should  continue  immortal,  and 
live  forever.  Seeing  Tolmides,  upon  the  confidence  of  his 
former  successes,  and  flushed  with  the  honor  his  military 
actions  had  procured  him,  making  preparation  to  attack 
the  Boeotians  in  their  own  country,  when  there  was  no 
likely  opportunity,  and  that  he  had  prevailed  with  the 
bravest  and  most  enterprising  of  the  youth  to  enlist  them- 
selves as  volunteers  in  the  service,  who  besides  his  other 
force  made  up  a  thousand,  he  endeavored  to  withhold  him 
and  to  advise  him  from  it  in  the  public  assembly,  telling 
him  in  a  memorable  saying  of  his,  which  still  goes  about, 
that,  if  he  would  not  take  Pericles'  advice,  yet  he  would 
not  do  amiss  to  wait  and  be  ruled  by  time,  the  wisest 
counsellor   of    all.     This   saying,  at   that   time,  was   but 


PERICLES.  6? 

slightly  commended;  but  within  a  few  days  after,  when 
news  was  brought  that  Tolmides  himself  had  been  defeated 
and  slain  in  battle  near  Coronea,  and  that  many  brave 
citizens  had  fallen  with  him,  it  gained  him  great  repute  as 
well  as  good-will  among  the  people,  for  wisdom  and  for 
love  of  his  countrymen. 

He  did  not  comply  with  the  giddy  impulses  of  the  citi- 
zens, nor  quit  his  own  resolutions  to  follow  their  fancies, 
when,  carried  away  with  the  thought  of  their  strength  and 
great  success,  they  were  eager  to  interfere  again  in  Egypt, 
and  to  disturb  the  king  of  Persia's  maritime  dominions ; 
but  he  curbed  this  passion  for  foreign  conquest,  and  un- 
sparingly pruned  and  cut  down  their  ever  busy  fancies  for 
a  multitude  of  undertakings ;  and  directed  their  power  for 
the  most  part  to  securing  and  consolidating  what  they  had 
already  got,  supposing  it  would  be  quite  enough  for  them 
to  do,  if  they  could  keep  the  Lacedaemonians  in  check. 

Having  made  a  truce  between  the  Athenians  and  Lace- 
daemonians for  thirty  years,  he  ordered,  by  public  decree, 
the  expedition  against  the  isle  of  Samos,  on  the  ground 
that,  when  they  were  bid  to  leave  off  their  war  with  the 
Milesians,  they  had  not  complied.  And  as  these  measures 
against  the  Samians  are  thought  to  have  been  taken  to 
please  Aspasia,  this  may  be  a  fit  point  for  inquiry  about 
the  woman,  what  art  or  charming  faculty  she  had  that  en- 
abled her  to  captivate,  as  she  did,  the  greatest  statesmen, 
and  to  give  the  philosophers  occasion  to  speak  so  much 
about  her,  and  that,  too,  not  to  her  disparagement. 

Aspasia,  some  say,  was  courted  and  caressed  by  Pericles 
upon  account  of  her  knowledge  and  skill  in  politics. 
Socrates  himself  would  sometimes  go  to  visit  her,  and 
some  of  his  acquaintance  with  him ;  and  those  who  fre- 


58  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

(|uented  her  company  would  carry  their  wives  with  them 
to  listen  to  her.  She  had  the  repute  of  being  resorted  to 
by  many  of  the  Athenians  for  instruction  in  the  art  of 
speaking.  Pericles'  inclination  for  her  seems,  however,  to 
have  rather  proceeded  from  the  passion  of  love.  He  had 
a  wife  that  was  near  of  kin  to  him,  who  had  before  been 
married.  When  they  did  not  well  agree  nor  like  to  live 
together,  he  parted  with  her,  with  her  own  consent,  to  an- 
other man,  and  himself  took  Aspasia,  and  loved  her  with 
wonderful  affection ;  every  day,  both  as  he  went  out  and 
as  he  came  in  from  the  market-place,  he  saluted  and  kissed 
her. 

Phidias  the  Moulder  had,  as  has  before  been  said,  under- 
taken to  make  the  statue  of  Minerva.  Now  he,  being  ad- 
mitted to  friendship  with  Pericles,  and  a  great  favorite  of 
his,  had  many  enemies  upon  this  account,  who  envied  and 
maligned  him;  who  also,  to  make  trial  in  a  case  of  his, 
what  kind  of  judges  the  commons  would  prove,  should 
there  be  occasion  to  bring  Pericles  himself  before  them, 
having  tampered  with  Menon,  one  who  had  been  a  work- 
man with  Phidias,  stationed  him  in  the  market-place,  with 
a  petition  desiring  public  security  upon  his  discovery  and 
impeachment  of  Phidias.  The  people  admitting  the  man 
to  tell  his  story,  and  the  prosecution  proceeding  in  the 
assembly,  there  was  nothing  of  theft  or  cheat  proved 
against  him ;  for  Phidias,  from  the  very  beginning,  by 
the  advice  of  Pericles,  had  so  wrought  and  wrapt  the 
gold  that  was  used  in  the  work  about  the  statue,  that  they 
might  take  it  all  off  and  make  out  the  just  weight  of  it, 
which  Pericles  at  that  time  bade  the  accusers  do.  But 
the  reputation  of  his  works  was  what  brought  envy  upon 
Phidias,  especially  that  where  he  represents  the  fight  of 


PERICLES.  59 

the  Amazons  upon  the  goddess'  shield,  he  had  introduced 
a  likeness  of  himself  as  a  bald  old  man  holding  up  a  great 
stone  with  both  hands,  and  had  put  in  a  very  fine  repre- 
sentation of  Pericles  fighting  with  an  Amazon.  And  the 
position  of  the  hand,  which  holds  out  the  spear  in  front  of 
the  face,  was  ingeniously  contrived  to  conceal  in  some  de- 
gree the  likeness,  which,  meantime,  showed  itself  on  either 
side. 

Phidias  then  was  carried  away  to  prison,  and  there  died 
of  a  disease ;  but,  as  some  say,  of  poison  administered  by 
the  enemies  of  Pericles,  to  raise  a  slander,  or  a  suspicion, 
at  least,  as  though  he  had  procured  it.  The  informer 
Menon,  upon  Glycon's  proposal,  the  people  made  free 
from  payment  of  taxes  and  customs,  and  ordered  the  gen- 
erals to  take  care  that  nobody  should  do  him  any  hurt. 
About  the  same  time,  Aspasia  was  indicted  of  impiety.  A 
decree  was  proposed  that  public  accusation  should  be  laid 
against  persons  who  neglected  religion  or  taught  new  doc- 
trines about  things  above,  directing  suspicion,  by  means 
of  Anaxagoras,  against  Pericles  himself.  The  people  re- 
ceiving  and  admitting  these  accusations  and  complaints^ 
at  length,  by  this  means,  they  came  to  enact  a  decree, 
that  Pericles  should  bring  in  the  accounts  of  the  moneys 
he  had  expended,  and  that  the  judges,  carrying  their  suf- 
frages from  the  altar  in  the  Acropolis,  should  examine  and 
determine  the  business  in  the  city.  Aspasia,  Pericles 
begged  off,  shedding  many  tears  at  the  trial,  and  person- 
ally entreating  the  jurors.  But  fearing  how  it  might  go 
with  Anaxagoras,  he  sent  him  out  of  the  city.  And  find- 
Amazon  :  one  of  a  fabled  race  of  female  warriors,  said  to  have  founded  an 
empire  on  the  coast  of  the  Black  Sea. 

Suffrages  :  literally,  ballots  or  votes;  here,  however,  the  word  seems  ti^ 
mean  the  court.    M. 


60  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

ing  that  in  Phidias'  case  he  had  miscarried  with  the  people, 
being  afraid  of  impeachment,  he  kindled  the  war,  which 
hitherto  had  lingered  and  smothered,  and  blew  it  up  into 
a  flame ;  hoping,  by  that  means,  to  disperse  and  scatter 
these  complaints  and  charges,  and  to  allay  their  jealousy; 
the  city  usually  throwing  herself  upon  him  alone,  and 
trusting  to  his  sole  conduct,  upon  the  urgency  of  great 
affairs  and  public  dangers,  by  reason  of  his  authority  and 
the  sway  he  bore. 

The  Lacedaemonians,  for  their  part,  feeling  sure  that  if 
they  could  once  remove  him,  they  might  be  at  what  terms 
they  pleased  with  the  Athenians,  sent  them  word  that  they 
should  expel  the  "Pollution"^  with  which  Pericles  on  the 
mother's  side  was  tainted,  as  Thucydides  tells  us.  But 
the  issue  proved  quite  contrary  to  what  those  who  sent  the 
message  expected ;  instead  of  bringing  Pericles  under  sus- 
picion and  reproach,  they  raised  him  into  yet  greater  credit 
and  esteem  with  the  citizens,  as  a  man  whom  their  enemies 
most  hated  and  feared.  In  the  same  way,  also,  before 
Archidamus,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Peloponnesians, 
made  his  invasion  into  Attica,  he  told  the  Athenians  be- 
forehand that  if  Archidamus,  while  he  laid  waste  the  rest 
of  the  country,  should  forbear  and  spare  his  estate,  either 
on  the  ground  of  friendship  or  right  of  hospitality  that 
was  betwixt  them,  or  on  purpose  to  give  his  enemies  an 
occasion  of  traducing  him,  that  then  he  did  freely  bestow 
upon  the  state  all  that  land  and  the  buildings  upon  it 
for  the  public  use.  The  Lacedaemonians,  therefore,  and 
their  allies,  with  a  great  army,  invaded  the  Athenian  ter- 

1  According  to  Thucydides  Pericles  was  a  descendant  on  his  mother's  side 
from  certain  arehons  who  in  the  seventh  century  b.c.  put  to  death  a  number 
of  insurrectionists  who  claimed  the  protection  of  the  deities  of  tlie  Acropolis; 
that  act  of  sacrilege  constituted  the  "Pollution  "  here  mentioned.    M. 


PERICLES.  61 

ritories,  under  the  conduct  of  king  Archidamus,  and  lay- 
ing waste  the  country,  marched  on  as  far  as  Acharnae,  and 
there  pitched  their  camp,  presuming  that  the  Athenians 
would  never  endure  that,  but  would  come  out  and  fight 
them  for  their  country's  and  their  honor's  sake.  But  Per- 
icles looked  upon  it  as  dangerous  to  engage  in  battle,  to 
the  risk  of  the  city  itself,  against  sixty  thousand  men-at- 
arms  of  Peloponnesians  and  Boeotians ;  for  so  many  they 
were  in  number  that  made  the  inroad  at  first ;  and  he  en- 
deavored to  appease  those  who  were  desirous  to  fight,  and 
were  grieved  and  discontented  to  see  how  things  went, 
and  gave  them  good  words,  saying,  that  "trees,  when  they 
are  lopped  and  cut,  grow  up  again  in  a  short  time,  but 
men,  being  once  lost,  cannot  easily  be  recovered."  He  did 
not  convene  the  people  into  an  assembly,  for  fear  lest  they 
should  force  him  to  act  against  his  judgment ;  but,  like  a 
skilful  steersman  or  pilot  of  a  ship,  who,  when  a  sudden 
squall  comes  on,  out  at  sea,  makes  all  his  arrangements, 
sees  that  all  is  tight  and  fast,  and  then  follows  the  dictates 
of  his  skill,  and  minds  the  business  of  the  ship,  taking  no 
notice  of  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  the  sea-sick  and  fear- 
ful passengers,  so  he,  having  shut  up  the  city  gates,  and 
placed  guards  at  all  posts  for  security,  followed  his  own 
reason  and  judgment,  little  regarding  those  that  cried  out 
against  him,  and  were  angry  at  his  management,  although 
there  were  a  great  many  of  his  friends  that  urged  him  with 
requests,  and  many  of  his  enemies  threatened  and  accused 
him  for  doing  as  he  did,  and  many  ma.de  songs  and  lam- 
poons upon  him,  which  were  sung  about  the  town  to  his 
disgrace,  reproaching  him  with  the  cowardly  exercise  of 
his  office  of  general,  and  the  tame  abandonment  of  every- 
thing to  the  enemy's  hands. 


62  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

Cleon,  also,  already  was  among  his  assailants,  making 
use  of  tlie  feeling  against  him  as  a  step  to  the  leadership 
of  the  people,  as  appears  in  the  verses  of  Hermippus. 

Satyr-king,  instead  of  swords, 
Will  you  always  handle  words  ? 
Very  brave  indeed  we  find  them, 
But  a  Teles  ^  lurks  behind  them. 

Yet  to  gnash  your  teeth  you're  seen, 
When  the  little  dagger  keen, 
Whetted  every  day  anew, 
Of  sharp  Cleon  touches  you. 

Pericles,  however,  was  not  at  all  moved  by  any  attacks, 
but  took  all  patiently,  and  submitted  in  silence  to  the 
disgrace  they  threw  upon  him  and  the  ill-will  they  bore 
him;  and,  sending  out  a  fleet  of  a  hundred  galleys  to 
Peloponnesus,  he  did  not  go  along  with  it  in  person,  but 
stayed  behind,  that  he  might  watch  at  home,  and  keep  the 
city  under  his  own  control,  till  the  Peloponnesians  broke 
up  their  camp  and  were  gone.  Yet  to  soothe  the  common 
people,  jaded  and  distressed  with  the  war,  he  relieved 
them  with  distributions  of  public  moneys,  and  ordained 
new  divisions  of  subject  land.  For,  having  turned  out  all 
the  people  of  ^gina,  he  parted  the  island  among  the  Athe- 
nians, according  to  lot.  Some  comfort,  also,  and  ease  in 
their  miseries,  they  might  receive  from  what  their  enemies 
endured.  For  the  fleet,  sailing  round  the  Peloponnese, 
ravaged  a  great  deal  of  the  country,  and  pillaged  and 
plundered  the  towns  and  smaller  cities ;  and  by  land  he 
himself  entered  with  an  army  the  Megarian  country,  and 
made  havoc  of  it  all.  Whence  it  is  clear  that  the  Pelopon- 
nesians, though  they  did  the  Athenians  much  mischief  by 

1  Apparently  some  notorious  coward. 


PERICLES.  63 

land,  yet  suffering  as  much  themselves  from  them  by  sea, 
would  not  have  protracted  the  war  to  such  a  length,  but 
would  quickly  have  given  it  over,  as  Pericles  at  first  fore- 
told tliey  would,  had  not  some  divine  power  crossed  hu- 
man purposes. 

In  the  first  place,  the  pestilential  disease,  or  plague, 
seized  upon  the  city,  and  ate  up  all  the  flower  and  prime 
of  their  youth  and  strength.  Upon  occasion  of  which, 
the  people,  distempered  and  afflicted  in  their  souls,  as  well 
as  in  their  bodies,  were  utterly  enraged  like  madmen 
against  Pericles,  and,  like  patients  grown  delirious,  sought 
to  lay  violent  hands  on  their  physician,  or,  as  it  were, 
their  father. 

He  could  not  pacify  or  allay  their  anger,  nor  persuade 
or  prevail  with  them  any  way,  till  they  freely  passed  their 
votes  upon  him,  resumed  their  power,  took  away  his  com- 
mand from  him,  and  fined  him  in  a  sum  of  money.  After 
this,  public  troubles  were  soon  to  leave  him  unmolested ; 
the  people,  so  to  say,  discharged  their  passion  in  their 
stroke,  and  lost  their  stings  in  the  wound.  But  his  do- 
mestic concerns  were  in  an  unhappy  condition,  many  of 
his  friends  and  acquaintance  having  died  in  the  plague 
time,  and  those  of  his  family  having  long  since  been  in 
disorder  and  in  a  kind  of  mutiny  against  him.  However, 
he  did  not  shrink  or  give  in  upon  these  occasions,  nor  be- 
tray or  lower  his  high  spirit  and  the  greatness  of  his  mind 
under  all  his  misfortunes ;  he  was  not  even  so  much  as 
seen  to  weep  or  to  mourn,  or  even  attend  the  burial  of  any 
of  his  friends  or  relations,  till  at  last  he  lost  his  only  re- 
maining legitimate  son.  Subdued  by  this  blow,  and  yet 
striving  still,  as  far  as  he  could,  to  maintain  his  principle, 
and  to  preserve   and  keep  up  the  greatness  of  his  soul, 


64  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

when  he  came,  however,  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  put- 
ting a  garland  of  flowers  upon  the  head  of  the  corpse,  he 
was  vanquished  by  his  passion  at  the  sight,  so  that  he 
burst  into  exclamations,  and  shed  copious  tears,  having 
never  done  any  such  thing  in  all  his  life  before. 

The  city  having  made  trial  of  other  generals  for  the  con- 
duct of  war,  and  orators  for  business  of  state,  when  they 
found  there  w^as  no  one  who  was  of  weight  enough  for 
such  a  charge,  or  of  authority  sufficient  to  be  trusted  with 
so  great  a  command,  regretted  the  loss  of  him,  and  invited 
him  again  to  address  and  advise  them,  and  to  reassume  the 
office  of  general.  He,  however,  lay  at  home,  in  dejection 
and  mourning;  but  was  persuaded  by  Alcibiades  and 
others  of  his  friends  to  come  abroad  and  show  himself 
to  the  people ;  who  having,  upon  his  appearance,  made 
their  acknowledgments,  and  apologized  for  their  un- 
towardly  treatment  of  him,  he  undertook  the  public  affairs 
once  more. 

Soon  after,  the  plague  seized  Pericles,  not  with  sharp 
and  violent  fits,  as  it  did  others  that  had  it,  but  with  a  dull 
and  lingering  distemper,  attended  with  various  changes  and 
alterations,  leisurely,  by  little  and  little,  wasting  the 
strength  of  his  body,  and  undermining  the  noble  faculties 
of  his  soul.  So  that  Theophrastus,  in  his  Morals,  when 
discussing  whether  men's  characters  change  with  their  cir- 
cumstances, and  their  moral  habits,  disturbed  by  the  ail- 
ings  of  their  bodies,  start  aside  from  the  rules  of  virtue, 
has  left  it  upon  record  that  Pericles,  when  he  was  sick, 
showed  one  of  his  friends  that  came  to  visit  him  an  amulet 
or  charm  that  the  women  had  hung  about  his  neck ;  as 
much  as  to  say,  that  he  was  very  sick  indeed  when  he 
would  admit  of  such  a  foolery  as  that  was. 


PERICLES.  66 

When  lie  was  now  near  his  end,  the  best  of  the  citizens 
and  those  of  his  friends  who  were  left  alive,  sitting  about 
him,  were  speaking  of  the  greatness  of  his  merit  and  his 
power,  and  reckoning  up  his  famous  actions  and  the  num- 
ber of  his  victories ;  for  there  were  no  less  than  nine  tro- 
phies, which,  as  their  chief  commander  and  conqueror  of 
their  enemies,  he  had  set  up,  for  the  honor  of  the  city. 
They  talked  thus  together  among  themselves,  as  though 
he  were  unable  to  understand  or  mind  what  they  said,  but 
had  now  lost  his  consciousness.  He  had  listened,  how- 
ever, all  the  while,  and  attended  to  all ;  and,  speaking  out 
among  them,  said  that  he  wondered  they  should  commend 
and  take  notice  of  things  which  were  as  much  owing  to 
fortune  as  to  anything  else,  and  had  happened  to  many 
other  commanders,  and,  at  the  same  time,  should  not  speak 
or  make  mention  of  that  which  was  the  most  excellent 
and  greatest  thing  of  all.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  no  Athenian, 
through  my  means,  ever  wore  mourning." 

He  was  indeed  a  character  deserving  our  high  admira- 
tion, not  only  for  his  equitable  and  mild  temper,  which  all 
along,  in  the  many  affairs  of  his  life,  and  the  great  animos- 
ities which  he  incurred,  he  constantly  maintained;  but 
also  for  the  high  spirit  and  feeling  which  made  him  regard 
it  the  noblest  of  all  his  honors  that,  in  the  exercise  of  such 
immense  power,  he  never  had  gratified  his  envy  or  his 
passion,  nor  ever  had  treated  any  enemy  as  irreconcilably 
opposed  to  him.  And  to  me  it  appears  that  this  one  thing 
gives  that  otherwise  childish  and  arrogant  title  a  fitting 
and  becoming  significance;  so  dispassionate  a  temper,  a 
life  so  pure  and  unblemished,  in  the  height  of  power  and 
place,  might  well  be  called  Olympian,  in  accordance  with 
our  conceptions  of  the  divine  beings,  to  whom,  as  the  nat- 


66  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

ural  authors  of  all  good  and  of  nothing  evil,  we  ascribe 
the  rule  and  government  of  the  world.  Not  as  the  poets 
represent,  who,  while  confounding  us  with  their  ignorant 
fancies,  are  themselves  confuted  by  their  own  poems  and 
fictions,  and  call  the  place,  indeed,  where  they  say  the 
gods  make  their  abode,  a  secure  and  quiet  seat,  free  from 
all  hazards  and  commotions,  untroubled  with  winds  or 
with  clouds,  and  equally  through  all  time  illumined  with 
a  soft  serenity  and  a  pure  light,  as  though  such  were  a 
home  most  agreeable  for  a  blessed  and  immortal  nature ; 
and  yet,  in  the  mean  while,  affirm  that  the  gods  themselves 
are  full  of  trouble  and  enmity  and  anger  and  other  pas- 
sions, which  no  way  become  or  belong  to  even  men  that 
have  any  understanding.  But  this  will,  perhaps,  seem  a 
subject  fitter  for  some  other  consideration,  and  that  ought 
to  be  treated  of  in  some  other  place. 

The  course  of  public  affairs  after  his  death  produced  a 
quick  and  speedy  sense  of  the  loss  of  Pericles.  Those 
who,  while  he  lived,  resented  his  great  authority,  as  that 
which  eclipsed  themselves,  presently,  after  his  quitting  the 
stage,  making  trial  of  other  orators  and  demagogues,  read- 
ily acknowledged  that  there  never  had  been  in  nature  such 
a  disposition  as  his  was,  more  moderate  and  reasonable  in 
the  height  of  that  state  he  took  upon  him,  or  more  grave 
and  impressive  in  the  mildness  which  he  used.  And  that 
invidious  arbitrary  power,  to  which  formerly  they  gave 
the  name  of  monarchy  and  tyranny,  did  then  appear  to 
have  been  the  chief  bulwark  of  public  safety ;  so  great  a 
corruption  and  such  a  flood  of  mischief  and  vice  followed, 
which  he,  by  keeping  weak  and  low,  had  withheld  from 
notice,  and  had  prevented  from  attaining  incurable  height 
through  a  licentious  impunity. 


c^ 


INTRODUCTION   TO   ALEXANDER. 

The  war  that  began  between  Athens  and  Sparta  before 
the  death  of  Pericles,  lasted  a  great  many  years,  and  ended 
in  the  defeat  of  Athens.  Now  Sparta  was  restored  to  her 
former  leadership  among  the  Greek  cities ;  but  she  was  so 
harsh  and  oppressive  in  her  new  rule  that  her  subjects 
were  very  discontented,  and  at  last  a  great  statesman  and 
general  named  Epaminondas,  belonging  to  the  city  of 
Thebes,  defeated  the  Spartans  in  the  battle  of  Leuctra,  B.C. 
371,  and  destroyed  the  Spartan  supremacy  forever.  But 
the  leadership  of  Thebes,  which  now  followed,  lasted  only 
a  few  years.  After  the  death  of  Epaminondas  a  new 
power  appeared,  and  soon  got  the  mastery  over  all  Greece. 
This  new  state  was  Macedonia. 

Macedonia  is  a  country  lying  to  the  north  of  Greece. 
The  Macedonians  were  really  of  the  Greek  race,  but  they 
were  so  rude  and  unlettered  that  the  Greeks  proper  were 
not  willing  to  recognize  them  as  kinsmen,  but  looked 
down  upon  them  as  barbarians.  Moreover,  they  were 
subject  to  kings,  while  nearly  all  the  Greek  cities  were 
republics.  The  time  came,  however,  when  the  Greeks 
were  glad  to  claim  relationship  with  the  Macedonians. 

The  king  of  Macedon  at  this  time  was  Philip.  He  was 
a  very  able  and  ambitious  man,  and  made  himself  the  lead- 
ing man  in  Greece,  and  his  kingdom  the  most  powerful 
state.  He  obtained  for  himself  the  leadership^  which  had 
been  held  by  Sparta,  Athens,  and  Thebes.  The  first  thing 
that  he   undertook  was   to  conquer  a  Greek  city  named 


68  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Olynthus,  on  a  peninsula  east  of  his  kingdom.  Olynthus 
was  a  very  rich  and  flourishing  commercial  town,  and  it 
controlled  all  the  country  to  the  east  of  Macedonia,  so 
that  he  could  not  extend  his  empire  in  that  direction  with- 
out first  getting  rid  of  this  rival.  The  Athenians,  who, 
since  the  death  of  Epaminondas,  were  on  the  whole  the 
leading  nation  in  Greece,  were  allies  of  the  Olynthians. 
Some  think  that  Olynthus  was  a  colony  of  Athens.  At  any 
rate  they  were  much  alarmed  at  Philip's  projects,  and  their 
great  orator  Demosthenes  did  all  he  could  to  induce  them 
to  send  aid  to  the  besieged  city.  But  they  were  slow  and 
undecided,  and  in  the  year  348  Philip  captured  and  de- 
stroyed Olynthus.  Now  he  was  master  of  all  the  country 
to  the  east,  as  far  as  the  Hellespont,  or  Dardanelles. 

Before  the  capture  of  Olynthus,  Philip  had  succeeded  in 
pushing  his  way  into  the  affairs  of  Greece,  by  taking  an 
opportunity  to  interfere  in  a  wretched  quarrel  between 
two  petty  states.  When  he  had  once  got  a  foothold  in 
Greece,  his  ability  and  unscrupulous  energy  soon  made 
him  master.  The  two  cities  of  Thebes  and  Athens  at  last 
united  with  some  others  against  him,  but  he  was  too 
strong  for  them,  and  in  the  year  338  he  defeated  them  in 
the  great  battle  of  Chseronea,  which  Milton  calls  "that 
dishonest  victory,  fatal  to  liberty." 

By  the  capture  of  Olynthus  and  the  battle  of  Chse- 
ronea  Philip  had  accomplished  his  two  first  objects;  he 
had  extended  his  empire  in  the  north,  and  he  had  got  a 
foothold  in  Greece,  and  gained  for  himself  the  leadership 
of  the  Greek  states.  And  now  he  proceeded  to  carry  out 
the  great  final  object  of  his  ambition,  which  was  to 
unite  under  his  lead  all  the  forces  of  Greece  and  invade 
Asia.     What  he  proposed  was  to  take  vengeance   upon 


ALEXANDER.  69 

Persia  for  the  invasion  of  Greece,  150  years  before.  For 
this  purpose  he  called  a  Congress  of  the  Greek  states, 
which  met  at  Corinth  in  337,  and  elected  Philip  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  the  Greek  forces  against  Persia. 
But  he  never  marched  against  Persia.  The  very  next 
year  (336)  he  was  assassinated,  and  succeeded  by  his  son 
Alexander,  an  even  abler  man  than  his  father,  who  carried 
out  his  father's  plans. 


70  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 


ALEXANDER. 


IT  being  my  purpose  to  write  the  lives  of  Alexander  the 
king,  and  of  Csesar,  by  whom  Pompey  was  destroyed, 
the  multitude  of  their  great  actions  affords  so  large  a  field 
that  I  were  to  blame  if  I  should  not  by  way  of  apology 
forewarn  my  reader  that  I  have  chosen  rather  to  epitomize 
the  most  celebrated  parts  of  their  story,  than  to  insist  at 
large  on  every  particular  circumstance  of  it.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  my  design  is  not  to  write  histories,  but 
lives.  And  the  most  glorious  exploits  do  not  always  fur- 
nish us  with  the  clearest  discoveries  of  virtue  or  vice  in 
men;  sometimes  a  matter  of  less  moment,  an  expression 
or  a  jest,  informs  us  better  of  their  characters  and  inclina- 
tions, than  the  most  famous  sieges,  the  greatest  armaments, 
or  the  bloodiest  battles  whatsoever.  Therefore  as  portrait- 
painters  are  more  exact  in  the  lines  and  features  of  the 
face,  in  which  the  character  is  seen,  than  in  the  other  parts 
of  the  body,  so  I  must  be  allowed  to  give  my  more  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  marks  and  indications  of  the  souls 
of  men,  and  while  I  endeavor  by  these  to  portray  their 
lives,  may  be  free  to  leave  more  w^eighty  matters  and  great 
battles  to  be  treated  of  by  others. 

Alexander,  the  son  of  Philip,  was  born  *  the  same  day  that 
the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus  was  burnt.     All  the  East- 

*  356  B.C. 

Diana  was  originally  a  deity  of  Italy,  but  about  400  B.C.  she  began  to  be 
identified  with  the  Greek  goddess  Artemis.  She  presided  over  wood,  plain, 
water,  childbirth,  and  also  over  the  chase  and  war. 


ALEXANDER.  7l 

ern  soothsayers  who  happened  to  be  then  at  Ephesus, 
looking  upon  the  ruin  of  this  temple  to  be  the  forerunner 
of  some  other  calamity,  ran  about  the  town,  beating  their 
faces,  and  crying,  that  this  day  had  brought  forth  some- 
thing that  would  prove  fatal  and  destructive  to  all  Asia. 

Philip  received  these  three  messages  at  one  time,  that 
Parmenio  had  overthrown  the  Illyrians  in  a  great  battle, 
that  his  race-horse  had  won  the  course  at  the  Olympic 
games,  and  that  his  wife  had  given  birth  to  Alexander ; 
with  which  being  naturally  well  pleased,  as  an  addition  to 
his  satisfaction,  he  was  assured  by  the  diviners  that  a  son, 
whose  birth  was  accompanied  with  three  such  successes, 
could  not  fail  of  being  invincible. 

His  temperance,  as  to  the  pleasures  of  the  body,  was 
apparent  in  him  in  his  very  childhood,  as  he  was  with 
much  difficulty  incited  to  them,  and  always  used  them 
with  great  moderation ;  though  in  other  things  he  was 
extremely  eager  and  vehement,  and  in  his  love  of  glory, 
and  the  pursuit  of  it,  he  showed  a  solidity  of  high  spirit 
and  magnanimity  far  above  his  age.  For  he  neither 
sought  nor  valued  it  upon  every  occasion,  as  his  father 
Philip  did  (who  affected  to  show  his  eloquence  almost  to 
a  degree  of  pedantry,  and  took  care  to  have  the  victories 
of  his  racing  chariots  at  the  Olympic  games  engraven  on 
his  coin)  but  when  he  was  asked  by  some  about  him, 
whether  he  would  run  a  race  in  the  Olympic  games,  as  he 
was  very  swift-footed,  he  answered,  he  would,  if  he  might 
have  kings  to  run  with  him.  Indeed,  he  seems  in  general 
to  have  looked  with  indifference,  if  not  with  dislike,  upon 
the  professed  athletes.  He  often  appointed  prizes,  for 
which    not    only   tragedians    and   musicians,   pipers    and 

Soothsayers :  augurs  or  diviners,  who  foretold  future  events. 


72  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

harpers,  but  rhapsodists  also,  strove  to  outvie  one  another ; 
and  delighted  in  all  manner  of  hunting  and  cudgel-play- 
ing, but  never  gave  any  encouragement  to  contests  either 
of  boxing  or  of  the  pancratium.* 

While  he  was  yet  very  young,  he  entertained  the  ambas- 
sadors from  the  king  of  Persia,  in  the  absence  of  his  father, 
and  entering  much  into  conversation  with  them,  gained 
so  much  upon  them  by  his  affability,  and  the  questions 
he  asked  them,  which  were  far  from  being  childish  or  tri- 
fling (for  he  inquired  of  them  the  length  of  the  ways,  the 
nature  of  the  road  into  inner  Asia,  the  character  of  their 
king,  how  he  carried  himself  to  his  enemies,  and  what 
forces  he  was  able  to  bring  into  the  field)  that  they  were 
struck  with  admiration  of  him,  and  looked  upon  the  ability 
so  much  famed  of  Philip,  to  be  nothing  in  comparison  with 
the  forwardness  and  high  purpose  that  appeared  thus  early 
in  his  son.  Whenever  he  heard  Philip  had  taken  any 
town  of  importance,  or  won  any  signal  victory,  instead  of 
rejoicing  at  it  altogether,  he  would  tell  his  companions 
that  his  father  would  anticipate  everything,  and  leave 
him  and  them  no  opportunities  of  performing  great  and 
illustrious  actions.  For  being  more  bent  upon  action  and 
glory  than  either  upon  pleasure  or  riches,  he  esteemed  all 
that  he  should  receive  from  his  father  as  a  diminution  and 
prevention  of  his  own  future  achievements;  and  would 
have  chosen  rather  to  succeed  to  a  kingdom  involved  in 
troubles  and  wars,  which  would  have  afforded  him  fre- 
quent exercise  of  his  courage,  and  a  large  field  of  honor, 
than  to  one  already  flourishing  and  settled,  where  his 
inheritance  would  be  an  inactive  life,  and  the  mere  enjoy- 
ment of  wealth  and  luxury. 

*  Rhapsodists  were  reciters  of  Epic  verses.  The  pancratium,  a  contest 
combining  wrestling  and  boxing. 


ALEXANDER.  73 

Philonicus  the  Thessalian  brought  the  horse  Bucephalas- 
to  Philip,  offering  to  sell  him  for  thirteen  talents;  but 
when  they  went  into  the  field  to  try  him,  they  found  him; 
so  very  vicious  and  unmanageable  that  he  reared  up  when 
they  endeavored  to  mount  him,  and  would  not  so  much  as 
endure  the  voice  of  any  of  Philip's  attendants.  Upon 
which,  as  they  were  leading  him  away  as  wholly  useless 
and  untractable,  Alexander,  who  stood  by,  said,  "  What  an 
excellent  horse  do  they  lose,  for  want  of  address  and  bold- 
ness to  manage  him ! "  Philip  at  first  took  no  notice  of 
what  he  said;  but  when  he  heard  him  repeat  the  same 
thing  several  times,  and  saw  he  was  much  vexed  to  see 
the  horse  sent  away,  "  Do  you  reproach,"  said  he  to  him, 
"  those  who  are  older  than  yourself,  as  if  you  knew  more, 
and  were  better  able  to  manage  him  than  they  ?  "  "I  could 
manage  this  horse,"  replied  he,  "  better  than  others  do." 
"  And  if  you  do  not,"  said  Philip,  "  what  will  you  forfeit 
for  your  rashness?"  "I  will  pay,"  answered  Alexander, 
"  the  whole  price  of  the  horse."  At  this  the  whole  com- 
pany fell  a  laughing ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  wager  was  set- 
tled amongst  them,  he  immediately  ran  to  the  horse,  and, 
taking  hold  of  the  bridle,  turned  him  directly  towards  the 
sun,  having,  it  seems,  observed  that  he  was  disturbed  at 
and  afraid  of  the  motion  of  his  own  shadow ;  then  letting 
him  go  forward  a  little,  still  keeping  the  reins  in  his  hand, 
and  stroking  him  gently  when  he  found  him  begin  to  grow 
eager  and  fiery,  he  let  fall  his  upper  garment  softly,  and 
with  one  nimble  leap  securely  mounted  him,  and  when  he 
was  seated,  by  little  and  little  drew  in  the  bridle,  and 
curbed  him  without  either  striking  or  spurring  him.  Pres- 
ently, when  he  found  him  free  from  all  rebelliousness,  and 
only  impatient  for  the  course,  he  let  him  go  at  full  speed. 


74  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

inciting  him  now  with  a  commanding  voice,  and  urging 
him  also  with  his  heel.  Philip  and  his  friends  looked  on 
at  first  in  silence  and  anxiety  for  the  result,  till  seeing 
him  turn  at  the  end  of  his  career,  and  come  back  rejoicing 
and  triumphant  for  what  he  had  performed,  they  all  burst 
out  into  acclamations  of  applause ;  and  his  father,  shed- 
ding tears,  it  is  said,  for  joy,  kissed  him  as  he  came  down 
from  his  horse,  and  in  his  transport  said,  "  O  my  son,  look 
thee  out  a  kingdom  equal  to  and  worthy  of  thyself,  for 
Macedonia  is  too  little  for  thee." 

After  this,  considering  him  to  be  of  a  temper  easy  to  be 
led  to  his  duty  by  reason,  but  by  no  means  to  be  com- 
pelled, he  always  endeavored  to  persuade  rather  than  to 
command  or  force  him  to  anything;  and  now  looking 
upon  the  instruction  and  tuition  of  his  youth  to  be  of 
greater  difficulty  and  importance,  than  to  be  wholly  trusted 
to  the  ordinary  masters  in  music  and  poetry,  and  the  com- 
mon school  subjects,  and  to  require,  as  Sophocles  says, 

The  bridle  and  the  rudder  too, 

he  sent  for  Aristotle,  the  most  learned  and  most  celebrated 
philosopher  of  his  time,  and  rewarded  him  with  a  munifi- 
cence proportionable  to  and  becoming  the  care  he  took  to 
instruct  his  son.  For  he  repeopled  his  native  city  Stagira, 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  demolished  a  little  before,  and 
restored  all  the  citizens  who  were  in  exile  or  slavery  to 
their  habitations.  As  a  place  for  the  pursuit  of  their 
studies  and  exercises,  he  assigned  the  temple  of  the  " 
Nymphs,  near  Mieza,  where,  to  this  very  day,  they  show 
you  Aristotle's  stone  seats,  and  the  shady  walks  which  he 
was  wont  to  frequent.  It  would  appear  that  Alexander 
received  from  him  not  only  his  doctrines  of  Morals  and 


ALEXANDER.  75 

of  Politics,  but  also  something  of  those  more  abstruse  and 
profound  theories  which  these  philosophers  professed  to 
reserve  for  oral  communication  to  the  initiated,  and  did 
not  allow  many  to  become  acquainted  with.  For  when  he 
was  in  Asia,  and  heard  Aristotle  had  published  some 
treatises  of  that  kind,  he  wrote  to  him,  using  very  plain 
language  to  him  in  behalf  of  philosophy,  the  following 
letter :  "  Alexander  to  Aristotle  greeting.  You  have  not 
done  well  to  publish  your  books  of  oral  doctrine ;  for  what 
is  there  now  that  we  excel  others  in,  if  those  things  which 
we  have  been  particularly  instructed  in  be  laid  open  to 
all  ?  For  my  part,  I  assure  you,  I  had  rather  excel  others 
in  the  knowledge  of  what  is  excellent,  than  in  the  extent 
of  my  power  and  dominion.     Farewell." 

Doubtless,  it  was  to  Aristotle  that  he  owed  the  inclina- 
tion he  had,  not  to  the  theory  only,  but  likewise  to  the 
practice  of  the  art  of  medicine.  For  when  any  of  his 
friends  were  sick,  he  would  often  prescribe  them  their 
course  of  diet,  and  medicines  proper  to  their  disease,  as  we 
may  find  in  his  epistles.  He  was  naturally  a  great  lover 
of  all  kinds  of  learning  and  reading;  he  constantly  laid 
Homer's  Iliad,  according  to  the  copy  corrected  by  Aris- 
totle, called  the  casket  copy,  with  his  dagger  under  his 
pillow,  declaring  that  he  esteemed  it  a  perfect  portable 
treasure  of  all  military  virtue  and  knowledge.  When  he 
was  in  the  upper  Asia,  being  destitute  of  other  books,  he 
ordered  Harpalus  to  send  him  some ;  who  furnished  him 
with  Philistus'  History,  a  great  many  of  the  plays  of 
Euripides,  Sophocles  and  JEschylus.  For  a  while  he  loved 
and  cherished  Aristotle  no  less,  as  he  was  wont  to   say 

Homer's  Iliad :  a  heroic  poem  describing  the  battles  between  the  Trojans 
and  Greeks  in  the  siege  of  Troy. 


76  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

himself,  than  if  he  liad  been  his  father,  giving  this  reason 
for  it,  that  as  he  had  received  life  from  the  one,  so  the 
other  had  taught  him  to  live  well.  But  afterwards,  upon 
some  mistrust  of  him,  yet  not  so  great  as  to  make  him  do 
him  any  hurt,  his  familiarity  and  friendly  kindness  to  him 
abated  so  much  of  its  former  force  and  affectionateness  as 
to  make  it  evident  he  was  alienated  from  him.  However, 
his  violent  thirst  after  and  passion  for  learning,  which 
were  once  implanted,  still  grew  up  wjth  him,  and  never 
decayed.  tr^'-  \ 

While  Philip  went  on  his  expedition  against  the  Byzan- 
tines, he  left  Alexander,  then  sixteen  years  old,  his  lieu- 
tenant in  Macedonia,  committing  the  charge  of  his  seal  to 
him ;  who,  not  to  sit  idle,  reduced  the  rebellious  Msedi, 
and,  having  taken  their  chief  town  by  storm,  drove  out 
the  barbarous  inhabitants,  and,  planting  a  colony  of  sev- 
eral nations  in  their  room,  called  the  place  after  his  own 
name,  Alexandropolis.  This  early  bravery  made  Philip 
so  fond  of  him  that  nothing  pleased  him  more  than  to 
hear  his  subjects  call  himself  their  general  and  Alexander 
their  king. 

Alexander  was  but  twenty  years  old  when  his  father 
was  murdered,^  and  succeeded  to  a  kingdom  beset  on  all 
sides  with  great  dangers  and  rancorous  enemies.  For  not 
only  the  barbarous  nations  that  bordered  on  Macedonia 
were  impatient  of  being  governed  by  any  but  their  own 
native  princes,  but  Philip  likewise,  though  he  had  been 
victorious  over  the  Grecians,  yet,  as  the  time  had  not  been 
sufficient  for  him  to  complete  his  conquest  and  accustom 

1  A  youth,  named  Pausanias,  having  suffered  some  indignity  at  the  hands 
of  Cleopatra,  Philip's  wife,  sought  reparation  for  his  disgrace  from  Philip, 
which,  being  denied,  he  watched  his  opportunity  and  murdered  him. 


ALEXANDER.  77 

them  to  his  sway,  had  simply  left  all  things  in  a  general 
disorder  and  confusion.  It  seemed  to  the  Macedonians  a 
very  critical  time ;  and  some  would  have  persuaded  Alex- 
ander to  give  up  all  thought  of  retaining  the  Grecians  in 
subjection  by  force  of  arms,  and  rather  to  apply  himself  to 
win  back  by  gentle  means  the  allegiance  of  the  tribes  who 
were  designing  revolt,  and  try  the  effect  of  indulgence  in 
arresting  the  first  motions  towards  revolution.  But  he 
rejected  this  counsel  as  weak  and  timorous,  and  looked 
upon  it  to  be  more  prudent  to  secure  himself  by  resolu- 
tion and  magnanimity,  than,  by  seeming  to  truckle  to  any, 
to  encourage  all  to  trample  on  him.  In  pursuit  of  this 
opinion,  he  reduced  the  barbarians  to  tranquillity,  and  put 
an  end  to  all  fear  of  war  from  them,  by  a  rapid  expedition 
into  their  country  as  far  as  the  river  Danube,  where  he 
gave  Syrmus,  king  of  the  Triballians,  an  entire  overthrow. 
And  hearing  the  Thebans  were  in  revolt,  and  the  Athe- 
nians in  correspondence  with  them,  he  immediately  marched 
through  the  pass  of  Thermopylae,  saying  that  to  Demos- 
thenes, who  had  called  him  a  child  while  he  was  in  Illyria 
and  in  the  country  of  the  Triballians,  and  a  youth  when 
he  was  in  Thessaly,  he  would  appear  a  man  before  the 
walls  of  Athens. 

When  he  came  to  Thebes,  to  show  how  willing  he  was 
to  accept  of  their  repentance  for  what  was  past,  he  only 
demanded  of  them  Phoenix  and  Prothytes,  the  authors  of 
the  rebellion,  and  proclaimed  a  general  pardon  to  those 
who  would  come  over  to  him.  But  when  the  Thebans 
merely  retorted  by  demanding  Philotas  and  Antipater  to 

Philotas,  son  of  Parmenio,  one  of  Philip's  generals,  was  an  intimate  friend 
of  Alexander. 

Antipater  was  the  regent  of  Macedonia  during  Alexander's  Eastern  expe- 
dition. » 


78  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

be  delivered  into  their  hands,  and  by  a  proclamation,  on 
their  part,  invited  all  who  would  assert  the  liberty  of 
Greece  to  come  over  to  them,  he  presently  applied  himself 
to  make  them  feel  the  last  extremities  of  war.  The  The- 
bans,  indeed,  defended  themselves  with  a  zeal  and  courage 
beyond  their  strength,  being  much  outnumbered  by  their 
enemies.  But  when  the  Macedonian  garrison  sallied  out 
upon  them  from  the  citadel,  they  were  so  hemmed  in  on 
all  sides,  that  the  greater  part  of  them  fell  in  the  battle ; 
the  city  itself,  being  taken  by  storm,  was  sacked  and  razed, 
Alexander's  hope  being  that  so  severe  an  example  might 
terrify  the  rest  of  Greece  into  obedience,  and  also  in  order 
to  gratify  the  hostility  of  his  confederates,  the  Phocians 
and  Plataeans.  So  that,  except  the  priests,  and  some  few 
who  had  heretofore  been  the  friends  and  connections  of  the 
Macedonians,  the  family  of  the  poet  Pindar,  and  those  who 
were  known  to  have  opposed  the  public  vote  for  the  war, 
all  the  rest,  to  the  number  of  thirty  thousand,  were  pub- 
licly sold  for  slaves ;  and  it  is  computed  that  upwards  of 
six  thousand  were  put  to  the  sword.  Among  the  other 
calamities  that  befell  the  city,  it  happened  that  some  Thra- 
cian  soldiers  having  broken  into  the  house  of  a  matron  of 
high  character  and  repute,  named  Timoclea,  their  captain, 
after  having  insulted  her,  to  satisfy  his  avarice  asked  her 
if  she  knew  of  any  money  concealed ;  to  which  she  readily 
answered  she  did,  and  bade  him  follow  her  into  a  garden, 
where  she  showed  him  a  well,  into  which,  she  told  him, 
upon  the  taking  of  the  city,  she  had  thrown  what  she  had 
of  most  value.  The  greedy  Thracian  presently  stooping 
down  to  view  the  place  where  he  thought  the  treasure  lay, 
she  came  behind  him,  and  pushed  him  into  the  well,  and 

Sacked  and  razed :  plundered  and  destroyed. 


ALEXANDER.  79 

then  flung  great  stones  in  upon  him,  till  she  had  killed 
him.  After  which,  when  the  soldiers  led  her  away  bound 
to  Alexander,  her  very  mien  and  gait  showed  her  to  be  a 
woman  of  dignity,  and  of  a  mind  no  less  elevated,  not  be- 
traying the  least  sign  of  fear  or  astonishment.  And  when 
the  king  asked  her  who  she  was,  "  I  am,"  said  she,  "  the 
sister  of  Theagenes,  who  fought  the  battle  of  Chaeronea 
with  your  father  Philip,  and  fell  there  in  command  for  the 
liberty  of  Greece."  Alexander  was  so  surprised,  both  at 
what  she  had  done,  and  what  she  said,  that  he  could  not 
choose  but  give  her  and  her  children  their  freedom  to  go 
whither  they  pleased.  ^  , 

After  this  he  received  the  Athenians  into  favor,  al- 
though they  had  shown  themselves  so  much  concerned  at 
the  calamity  of  Thebes  that  out  of  sorrow  they  omitted 
the  celebration  of  the  Mysteries,^  and  entertained  those 
who  escaped  with  all  possible  humanity.  Whether  it 
were,  like  the  lion,  that  his  passion  was  now  satisfied,  or 
that  after  an  example  of  extreme  cruelty,  he  had  a  mind 
to  appear  merciful,  it  happened  well  for  the  Athenians ; 
for  he  not  only  forgave  them  all  past  offences,  but  bade 
them  to  look  to  their  affairs  with  vigilance,  remembering 
that,  if  he  should  miscarry,  they  were  likely  to  be  the  ar- 
biters of  Greece.     Certain  it  is,  too,  that  in  after-time  he 

1  The  Mysteries  were  the  most  impressive  religious  ceremony  in  all  Greece. 
The  strictest  secrecy  was  enjoined  in  regard  to  certain  parts  of  them.  They 
were  distinguished  from  ordinary  festivals  by  their  great  magnificence  and 
expense. 

Painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  music,  dancing,  etc.,  were  combined  to 
form  a  most  impressive  spectacle.  The  first  and  most  important  condition 
required  of  the  participants  was  that  they  should  be  pure  in  heart  and  not  con- 
scious of  any  great  crime.  Certain  sacred  things  were  exposed  to  them  in  the 
most  impressive  manner,  and  they  believed  that  to  handle  and  kiss  these 
objects  would  have  a  salutary  effect. 


80  PLUTAKCH'S  LIVES. 

often  repented  of  his  severity  to  the  Thebans,  and  his  re- 
morse had  such  influence  on  his  temper  as  to  make  him 
ever  after  less  rigorous  to  all  others.  He  imputed  also  the 
murder  of  Clitus,  which  he  committed  in  his  wine,  and  the 
unwillingness  of  the  Macedonians  to  follow  him  against 
the  Indians,  by  which  his  enterprise  and  glory  was  left 
imperfect,  to  the  wrath  and  vengeance  of  Bacchus,  the 
protector  of  Thebes.  And  it  was  observed  that  whatso- 
ever any  Theban,  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  survive 
this  victory,  asked  of  him,  he  was  sure  to  grant  without 
the  least  difficulty. 

Soon  after,  the  Grecians,  being  assembled  at  the  Isth- 
mus, declared  their  resolution  of  joining  with  Alexander 
in  the  war  against  the  Persians,  and  proclaimed  him  their 
general.  While  he  stayed  here,  many  public  ministers 
and  philosophers  came  from  all  parts  to  visit  him,  and 
congratulated  him  on  his  election,  but  contrary  to  his  ex- 
pectation, Diogenes  of  Sinope,  who  then  was  living  at  Cor- 
inth, thought  so  little  of  him  that,  instead  of  coming  to 
compliment  him,  he  never  so  much  as  stirred  out  of  the 
suburb  called  the  Cranium,  where  Alexander  found  him 
lying  along  in  the  sun.  When  he  saw  so  much  company 
near  him,  he  raised  himself  a  little,  and  vouchsafed  to  look 
upon  Alexander;  and  when  he  kindly  asked  him  whether 
he  wanted  anything,  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  would  have  you 
stand  from  between  me  and  the  sun."  Alexander  was  so 
struck  at  this  answer,  and  surprised  at  the  greatness  of 
the  man,  who  had  taken  so  little  notice  of  him,  that  as  he 
went  away,  he  told  his  followers,  who  were  laughing  at 

Bacchus  was  the  god  of  wine,  giving  joy  and  banishing  sorrow,  the  pro- 
tector of  the  vine,  the  patron  of  agriculture,  and  the  promoter  of  the  peaceful 
arts  of  civilized  life.  Thebes  was  considered  his  birth-place,  and  became  the 
chief  centre  for  celebrating  his  rites. 


ALEXANDER.  81 

the  moroseness  of  the  philosopher,  that  if  he  were  not 
Alexander,  he  would  choose  to  be  Diogenes. 

Then  he  went  to  Delphi,  to  consult  Apollo  concerning 
the  success  of  the  war  he  had  undertaken,  and  happening 
to  come  on  one  of  the  forbidden  days,  when  it  was  es- 
teemed improper  to  give  any  answers  from  the  oracle,  he 
sent  messengers  to  desire  the  priestess  to  do  her  office ; 
and  when  she  refused,  on  the  plea  of  a  law  to  the  con- 
trary, he  went  up  himself,  and  began  to  draw  her  by  force 
into  the  temple,  until,  tired  and  overcome  with  his  impor- 
tunity, "  My  son,"  said  she,  "  thou  art  invincible."  Alex- 
ander, taking  hold  of  what  she  spoke,  declared  he  had 
received  such  an  answer  as  he  wished  for,  and  that  it  was 
needless  to  consult  the  god  any  further. 

His  army,  by  their  computation  who  make  the  smallest 
amount,  consisted  of  thirty  thousand  foot,  and  four  thou- 
sand horse ;  and  those  who  make  the  most  of  it,  speak  but 
of  forty-three  thousand  foot,  and  three  thousand  horse. 
However  narrow  and  disproportion  able  the  beginnings  of 
so  vast  an  undertaking  might  seem  to  be,  yet  he  would 
not  embark  his  army  until  he  had  informed  himself  par- 
ticularly what  means  his  friends  had  to  enable  them  to 
follow  him,  and  supplied  what  they  wanted,  by  giving 
good  farms  to  some,  a  village  to  one,  and  the  revenue  of 
some  hamlet  or  harbor  town  to  another.  So  that  at  last 
he  had  portioned  out  or  engaged  almost  all  the  royal 
property ;  which  giving  Perdiccas  an  occasion  to  ask  him 
what  he  would  leave  himself,  he  replied,  his  hopes.  "Your 
soldiers,"  replied   Perdiccas,   "will   be  your  partners   in 

Apollo  presided  over  healing,  prophecy,  music,  and  poetry.  He  was  the 
characteristic  divinity  of  the  Greeks,  impersonating  tlieir  life  in  its  most  beau- 
tiful and  natural  forms. 


82  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

those,"  and  refused  to  accept  of  the  estate  he  had  assigned 
him.  Some  others  of  his  friends  did  the  like,  but  to  those 
who  willingly  received,  or  desired  assistance  of  him,  he 
liberally  granted  it,  as  far  as  his  patrimony  in  Macedonia 
would  reach,  the  most  part  of  which  was  spent  in  these 
donations. 

With  such  vigorous  resolutions,  and  his  mind  thus  dis- 
posed, he  passed  the  Hellespont,  and  at  Troy  sacrificed  to 
Minerva,  and  honored  the  memory  of  the  heroes  who  were 
buried  there,  with  solemn  libations;  especially  Achilles, 
whose  gravestone  he  anointed,  and  with  his  friends,  as 
the  ancient  custom  is,  ran  naked  about  his  sepulchre, 
and  crowned  it  with  garlands,  declaring  how  happy  he 
esteemed  him,  in  having  while  he  lived  so  faithful  a 
friend,  and  when  he  was  dead,  so  famous  a  poet  to  pro- 
claim his  actions.  While  he  was  viewing  the  rest  of  the 
antiquities  and  curiosities  of  the  place,  being  told  he 
might  see  Paris'  harp,  if  he  pleased,  he  said,  he  thought 
it  not  worth  looking  on,  but  he  should  be  glad  to  see  that 
of  Achilles,  to  which  he  used  to  sing  the  glories  and  great 
actions  of  brave  men. 

In  the  mean  time  Darius'  captains  having  collected 
large  forces,  were  encamped  on  the  further  bank  of  the 
river  Granicus,  and  it  was  necessary  to  fight,  as  it  were, 
in  the  gate  of  Asia  for  an  entrance  into  it.  The  depth  of 
the  river,  with  the  unevenness  and  difficult  ascent  of  the 

Libations  :  wine  or  other  liquor  poured  out,  generally  on  the  ground,  in 
honor  of  some  deity. 

AchiUes  was  the  hero  of  Homer's  Iliad.  It  is  said  that  he  was  dipped  in 
the  river  Styx  by  his  mother,  and  was  thus  made  invulnerable,  except  in  the 
heel  by  which  he  was  held.  He  was  finally  slain  by  an  arrow  piercing  this 
vulnerable  point,  and  hence  "  the  heel  of  Achilles  "  became  a  proverbial  phrase 
to  signify  any  weakness  in  a  man's  character. 

Darius  in. :  king  of  the  Persians. 


ALEXANDER.  83 

opposite  bank,  which  was  to  be  gained  by  main  force,  was 
apprehended  by  most,  and  some  pronounced  it  an  improper 
time  to  engage,  because  it  was  unusual  for  the  kings  of 
Macedonia  to  march  with  their  forces  in  the  month  called 
Dsesius.  But  Alexander  broke  through  these  scruples, 
telUng  them  they  should  call  it  a  second  Artemisius.  And 
when  Parmenio  advised  him  not  to  attempt  anything  that 
day,  because  it  was  late,  he  told  him  that  he  should  dis- 
grace the  Hellespont,  should  he  fear  the  Granicus.  And 
so  without  more  saying,  he  immediately  took  the  river 
with  thirteen  troops  of  horse,  and  advanced  against  whole 
showers  of  darts  thrown  from  the  steep  opposite  side, 
which  was  covered  with  armed  multitudes  of  the  enemy's 
horse  and  foot,  notwithstanding  the  disadvantage  of  the 
ground  and  the  rapidity  of  the  stream ;  so  that  the  action 
seemed  to  have  more  of  frenzy  and  desperation  in  it,  than 
of  prudent  conduct.  However,  he  persisted  obstinately 
to  gain  the  passage,  and  at  last  with  much  ado  making  his 
way  up  the  banks,  which  were  extremely  muddy  and 
slippery,  he  had  instantly  to  join  in  a  mere  confused  hand- 
to-hand  combat  with  the  enemy,  before  he  could  draw  up 
his  men,  who  were  still  passing  over,  into  any  order.  For 
the  enemy  pressed  upon  him  with  loud  and  warlike  out- 
cries ;  and  charging  horse  against  horse,  with  their  lances, 
after  they  had  broken  and  spent  these,  they  fell  to  it  with 
their  swords.  And  Alexander,  being  easily  known  by  his 
buckler,  and  a  large  plume  of  white  feathers  on  each  side 
of  his  helmet,  was  attacked  on  all  sides,  yet  escaped 
wounding,  though  his  cuirass  was  pierced  by  a  javelin  in 

Artemisius  :  a  spring  month. 
Buckler  :   a  shield  worn  on  the  left  arm. 

Cuirass  :    armor  covering  the  body  from  the  neck  to  the  girdle  ;   also  a 
breastplate. 


84  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

one  of  the  joinings.  And  Rhoesaces  and  Spithridates,  two 
Persian  commanders,  falling  upon  him  at  once,  he  avoided 
one  of  them,  and  struck  at  Rhoesaces,  who  had  a  good 
cuirass  on,  with  such  force,  that  his  spear  breaking  in  his 
hand,  he  was  glad  to  betake  himself  to  his  dagger.  While 
they  were  thus  engaged,  Spithridates  came  up  on  one  side 
of  him,  and  raising  himself  upon  his  horse,  gave  him  such 
a  blow  with  his  battle-axe  on  the  helmet,  that  he  cut  off 
the  crest  of  it,  with  one  of  his  plumes,  and  the  helmet  was 
only  just  so  far  strong  enough  to  save  him,  that  the  edge 
of  the  weapon  touched  the  hair  of  his  head.  But  as  he 
was  about  to  repeat  his  stroke,  Clitus,  called  the  black 
Clitus,  prevented  him,  by  running  him  through  the  body 
with  his  spear.  At  the  same  time  Alexander  despatched 
Rhoesaces  with  his  sword.  While  the  horse  were  thus 
dangerously  engaged,  the  Macedonian  phalanx  passed  the 
river,  and  the  foot  on  each  side  advanced  to  fight.  But 
the  enemy  hardly  sustaining  the  first  onset,  soon  gave 
ground  -and  fled,  all  but  the  mercenary  Greeks,  who,  mak- 
ing a  stand  upon  a  rising  ground,  desired  quarter,  which 
Alexander,  guided  rather  by  passion  than  judgment,  re- 
fused to  grant,  and  charging  them  himself  first,  had  his 
horse  (not  Bucephalas,  but  another)  killed  under  himc 
And  this  obstinacy  of  his  to  cut  off  these  experienced 
desperate  men,  cost  him  the  lives  of  more  of  his  own  sol- 
diers than  all  the  battle  before,  besides  those  who  were 
wounded.  The  Persians  lost  in  this  battle  twenty  thou- 
sand foot,  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  horse.  On 
Alexander's  side,  there  were  not  wanting  above  four  and 

The  Macedonian  phalanx  consisted  of  a  body  of  soldiers,  several  lines 
deep,  armed  with  shields  and  with  spears  presenting  an  almost  irresistible 
wall  of  steel. 

Mercenary  Greeks  :   Greeks  hired  by  the  Persians  to  fight  for  them. 


ALEXANDER.  85 

thirty,  of  whom  nine  were  foot-soldiers;  and  in  memory 
of  them  he  caused  so  many  statues  of  brass,  of  Lysippus' 
making,  to  be  erected.  And  that  the  Grecians  might 
participate  the  honor  of  his  victory,  he  sent  a  portion  of 
the  spoils  home  to  them,  particularly  to  the  Athenians 
three  hundred  bucklers,  and  upon  all  the  rest  he  ordered  ^ 
this  inscription  to  be  set :  "  Alexander  the  son  of  Philip, 
and  the  Grecians,  except  the  Lacedaemonians,  won  these 
from  the  barbarians  who  inhabit  Asia."  All  the  plate  and 
purple  garments,  and  other  things  of  the  same  kind  that 
he  took  from  the  Persians,  except  a  very  small  quantity 
which  he  reserved  for  himself,  he  sent  as  a  present  to  his 
mother. 

This  battle  presently  made  a  great  change  of  affairs  to 
Alexander's  advantage.  For  Sardis  itself,  the  chief  seat 
of  the  barbarian's  power  in  the  maritime  provinces,  and 
many  other  considerable  places  were  surrendered  to  him ; 
only  Halicarnassus  and  Miletus  stood  out,  which  he  took 
by  force,  together  with  the  territory  about  them.  After 
which  he  was  a  little  unsettled  in  his  opinion  how  to  pro- 
ceed. Sometimes  he  thought  it  best  to  find  out  Darius 
as  soon  as  he  could,  and  put  all  to  the  hazard  of  a  battle ; 
another  while  he  looked  upon  it  as  a  more  prudent  course 
to  make  an  entire  reduction  of  the  sea-coast,  and  not  to 
seek  the  enemy  till  he  had  first  exercised  his  power  here 
and  made  himself  secure  of  the  resources  of  these  prov- 
inces. While  he  was  thus  deliberating  what  to  do,  it 
happened  that  a  spring  of  water  near  the  city  of  Xanthus 
in  Lycia,  of  its  own  accord  swelled  over  its  banks,  and 
threw  up  a  copper  plate  upon  the  margin,  in  which  was 
engraven  in  ancient  characters,  that  the  time  would  come, 
when   the   Persian   empire   should   be  destroyed  by  the 


86  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Grecians.  Encouraged  by  this  accident,  he  proceeded  to 
reduce  the  maritime  parts  of  Cilicia  and  Phoenicia,  and 
passed  his  army  along  the  sea-coasts  of  Pamphylia  with 
such  expedition  that  many  historians  have  described  and 
extolled  it  with  that  height  of  admiration,  as  if  it  were  no 
less  than  a  miracle,  and  an  extraordinary  effect  of  divine 
favor,  that  the  waves  which  usually  come  rolling  in  vio- 
lently from  the  main,  and  hardly  ever  leave  so  much  as  a 
narrow  beach  under  the  steep,  broken  cliffs  at  any  time 
uncovered,  should  on  a  sudden  retire  to  afford  him  passage. 
Menander,  in  one  of  his  comedies,  alludes  to  this  marvel 
when  he  says. 

Was  Alexander  ever  favored  more  ? 
Each  man  I  wish  for  meets  me  at  my  door, 
And  should  I  ask  for  passage  through  the  sea, 
The  sea  I  doubt  not  would  retire  for  me. 

But  Alexander  himself  in  his  epistles  mentions  nothing 
unusual  in  this  at  all,  but  says  he  went  from  Phaselis,  and 
passed  through  what  they  call  the  Ladders.  At  Phaselis 
he  stayed  some  time,  and  finding  the  statue  of  Theodectes, 
who  was  a  native  of  this  town  and  was  now  dead,  erected 
in  the  market-place,  after  he  had  supped,  having  drunk 
pretty  plentifully,  he  went  and  danced  about  it,  and 
crowned  it  with  garlands,  honoring  not  ungracefully  in 
his  sport,  the  memory  of  a  philosopher  whose  conversation 
he  had  formerly  enjoyed,  when  he  was  Aristotle's  scholar. 

Then  he  subdued  the  Pisidians  who  made  head  against 
him,  and  conquered  the  Phrygians,  at  whose  chief  city 
Gordium,  which  is  said  to  be  the  seat  of  the  ancient  Midas, 
he  saw  the  famous  chariot  fastened  with  cords  made  of  the 
rind  of  the  cornel-tree,  which  whosoever  should  untie. 


ALEXANDER.  87 

the  inhabitants  had  a  tradition,  that  for  him  was  reserved 
the  empire  of  the  world.  Most  authors  tell  the  story  that 
Alexander,  finding  himself  unable  to  untie  the  knot,  the 
ends  of  which  were  secretly  twisted  round  and  folded  up 
within  it,  cut  it  asunder  with  his  sword.  But  Aristobulus 
tells  us  it  was  easy  for  him  to  undo  it,  by  only  pulling  the 
pin  out  of  the  pole,  to  which  the  yoke  was  tied,  and  after- 
wards drawing  off  the  yoke  itself  from  below.  From  hence 
he  advanced  into  Paphlagonia  and  Cappadocia,  both  which 
countries  he  soon  reduced  to  obedience,  and  then  hearing 
of  the  death  of  Memnon,  the  best  commander  Darius  had 
upon  the  sea-coasts,  who,  if  he  had  lived,  might,  it  was 
supposed,  have  put  many  impediments  and  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  progress  of  his  arms,  he  was  the  rather 
encouraged  to  carry  the  war  into  the  upper  provinces  of 
Asia. 

Darius  was  by  this  time  upon  his  march  from  Susa,  very 
confident,  not  only  in  the  number  of  his  men,  which 
amounted  to  six  hundred  thousand,  but  likewise  in  a 
dream,  which  the  Persian  soothsayers  interpreted  rather 
in  flattery  to  him  than  according  to  the  natural  probabil- 
ity. He  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  Macedonian  phalanx  all 
on  fire,  and  Alexander  waiting  on  him,  clad  in  the  same 
dress  which  he  himself  had  been  used  to  wear  when  he 
was  courier  to  the  late  king ;  after  which,  going  into  the 
temple  of  Belus,  he  vanished  out  of  his  sight.  The  dream 
would  appear  to  have  supernaturally  signified  to  him  the 
illustrious  actions  the  Macedonians  were  to  perform,  and 
that  as  he  from  a  courier's  place  had  risen  to  the  throne, 
so  Alexander  should  come  to  be  master  of  Asia,  and,  not 
long  surviving  his  conquests,  conclude  his  life  with  glory. 

Belus  :  the  sun-god. 


88  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

Darius'  confidence  increased  the  more  because  Alexander 
spent  so  much  time  in  Cilicia,  which  he  imputed  to  his 
cowardice.  But  it  was  sickness  that  detained  him  there, 
which  some  say  he  contracted  from  his  fatigues,  others 
from  bathing  in  the  river  Cydnus,  whose  waters  were 
exceedingly  cold.  However  it  happened,  none  of  his  phy- 
sicians would  venture  to  give  him  any  remedies,  they 
thought  his  case  so  desperate,  and  were  so  afraid  of  the 
suspicions  and  ill-will  of  the  Macedonians  if  they  should 
fail  in  the  cure ;  till  Philip,  the  Acarnanian,  seeing  how 
critical  his  case  was,  but  relying  on  his  own  well-known 
friendship  for  him,  resolved  to  try  the  last  efforts  of  his 
art,  and  rather  hazard  his  own  credit  and  life  than  suffer 
him  to  perish  for  want  of  physic,  which  he  confidently 
administered  to  him,  encouraging  him  to  take  it  boldly  if 
he  desired  a  speedy  recovery,  in  order  to  prosecute  the 
war.  At  this  very  time,  Parmenio  wrote  to  Alexander 
from  the  camp,  bidding  him  have  a  care  of  Philip,  as  one 
who  was  bribed  by  Darius  to  kill  him,  with  great  sums  of 
money,  and  a  promise  of  his  daughter  in  marriage.  When 
he  had  perused  the  letter  he  put  it  under  his  pillow,  with- 
out showing  it  so  much  as  to  any  of  his  most  intimate 
friends,  and  when  Philip  came  in  with  the  potion  he  took 
it  with  great  cheerfulness  and  assurance,  giving  him  mean- 
time the  letter  to  read.  This  was  a  spectacle  well  worth 
being  present  at,  to  see  Alexander  take  the  draught  and 
Philip  read  the  letter  at  the  same  time,  and  then  turn  and 
look  upon  one  another,  but  with  different  sentiments ;  for 
Alexander's  looks  were  cheerful  and  open,  to  show  his 
kindness  to  and  confidence  in  his  physician,  while  the  other 
was  full  of  surprise  and  alarm  at  the  accusation,  appealing 
to  the  gods  to  witness  his  innocence,  sometimes  lifting  up 


ALEXANDER.  89 

his  hands  to  heaven,  and  then  throwing  himself  down  by 
the  bedside,  and  beseeching  Alexander  to  lay  aside  all 
fear,  and  follow  his  directions  without  apprehension.  For 
the  medicine  at  first  worked  so  strongly  as  to  drive,  so  to 
say,  the  vital  forces  into  the  interior ;  he  lost  his  speech, 
and  falling  into  a  swoon,  had  scarce  any  sense  or  pulse 
left.  However,  in  no  long  time,  by  Philip's  means,  his 
health  and  strength  returned,  and  he  showed  himself  in 
public  to  the  Macedonians,  who  were  in  continual  fear  and 
dejection  until  they  saw  him  abroad  again. 

There  was  at  this  time  in  Darius'  army  a  Macedonian 
refugee,  named  Amyntas,  one  who  was  pretty  well  ac- 
quainted with  Alexander's  character.  This  man,  when  he 
saw  Darius  intended  to  fall  upon  the  enemy  in  the  passes 
and  defiles,  advised  him  earnestly  to  keep  where  he  was, 
in  the  open  and  extensive  plains,  it  being  the  advantage 
of  a  numerous  army  to  have  field-room  enough  when  it 
engages  with  a  lesser  force.  Darius,  instead  of  taking  his 
counsel,  told  him  he  was  afraid  the  enemy  would  endeavor 
to  run  away,  and  so  Alexander  would  escape  out  of  his 
hands.  *'  That  fear,"  replied  Amyntas,  "  is  needless,  for 
assure  yourself  that  far  from  avoiding  you,  he  will  make 
all  the  speed  he  can  to  meet  you,  and  is  now  most  likely 
on  his  march  towards  you."  But  Amyntas'  counsel  was 
to  no  purpose,  for  Darius,  immediately  decamping,  marched 
into  Cilicia,  at  the  same  time  that  Alexander  advanced 
into  Syria  to  meet  him ;  and  missing  one  another  in  the 
night,  they  both  turned  back  again.  Alexander,  greatly 
pleased  with  the  event,  made  all  the  haste  he  could  to 
fight  in  the  defiles,  and  Darius  to  recover  his  former 
ground,  and  draw  his  army  out  of  so  disadvantageous  a 
place.    For  now  he  began  to  perceive  his  error  in  engaging 


90  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

himself  too  far  in  a  country  in  which  the  sea,  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  river  Pinarus  running  through  the  midst  of 
it,  would  necessitate  him  to  divide  his  forces,  render  his 
horse  almost  unserviceable,  and  only  cover  and  support 
the  weakness  of  the  enemy.  Fortune  was  not  kinder  to 
Alexander  in  the  choice  of  the  ground  than  he  was  careful 
to  improve  it  to  his  advantage.  For  being  much  inferior 
in  numbers,  so  far  from  allowing  himself  to  be  outflanked, 
he  stretched  his  right  wing  much  further  out  than  the  left 
wing  of  his  enemies,  and  fighting  there  himself  in  the 
very  foremost  ranks,  put  the  barbarians  to  flight.  In  this 
battle  he  was  wounded  in  the  thigh. 

Nothing  was  wanting  to  complete  this  victory,  in  which 
he  overthrew  above  an  hundred  and  ten  thousand  of  his 
enemies,  but  the  taking  the  person  of  Darius,  who  escaped 
very  narrowly  by  flight.  However,  having  taken  his  char- 
iot and  his  bow,  he  returned  from  pursuing  him,  and  found 
his  own  men  busy  in  pillaging  the  barbarians'  camp,  which 
(though  to  disburden  themselves,  they  had  left  most  of 
their  baggage  at  Damascus)  was  exceedingly  rich.  But 
Darius'  tent,  which  was  full  of  splendid  furniture,  and 
quantities  of  gold  and  silver,  they  reserved  for  Alexander 
himself,  who,  after  he  had  put  off  his  arms,  went  to  bathe 
himself,  saying,  "  Let  us  now  cleanse  ourselves  from  the 
toils  of  war  in  the  bath  of  Darius."  "Not  so,"  replied 
one  of  his  followers,  "but  in  Alexander's  rather;  for  the 
property  of  the  conquered  is  and  should  be  called  the 
conqueror's."  Here,  when  he  beheld  the  bathing  vessels, . 
the  water-pots,  the  pans,  and  the  ointment  boxes,  all  of 
gold,  curiously  wrought,  and  smelt  the  fragrant  odors  with 
which  the  whole  place  was  exquisitely  perfumed,  and  from 
thence  passed  into  a  pavilion  of   great   size  and   height, 


ALEXANDEK.  91 

where  the  couches  and  tables  and  preparations  for  an 
entertainment  were  perfectly  magnificent,  he  turned  to 
those  about  him  and  said,  "  This,  it  seems,  is  royalty." 

But  as  he  was  going  to  supper,  word  was  brought  him 
that  Darius'  mother  and  wife  and  two  unmarried  daugh- 
ters, being  taken  among  the  rest  of  the  prisoners,  upon  the 
sight  of  his  chariot  and  bow  were  all  in  mourning  and  sor- 
row, imagining  him  to  be  dead.  After  a  little  pause,  more 
livelily  affected  with  their  affliction  than  with  his  own  suc- 
cess, he  sent  Leonnatus  to  them,  to  let  them  know  Darius 
was  not  dead,  and  that  they  need  not  fear  any  harm  from 
Alexander,  who  made  war  upon  him  only  for  dominion ; 
they  should  themselves  be  provided  with  everything  they 
had  been  used  to  receive  from  Darius.  This  kind  message 
could  not  but  be  very  welcome  to  the  captive  ladies, 
especially  being  made  good  by  actions  no  less  humane 
and  generous.  For  he  gave  them  leave  to  bury  whom 
they  pleased  of  the  Persians,  and  to  make  use  for  this  pur- 
pose of  what  garments  and  furniture  they  thought  fit,  out 
of  the  booty.  He  diminished  nothing  of  their  equipage, 
or  of  the  attentions  and  respect  formerly  paid  them,  and 
allowed  larger  pensions  for  their  maintenance  than  they 
had  before.  But  the  noblest  and  most  royal  part  of  their 
usage  was,  that  he  treated  these  illustrious  prisoners  ac- 
cording to  their  virtue  and  character,  not  suffering  them 
to  hear,  or  receive,  or  so  much  as  to  apprehend,  anything 
that  was  unbecoming.  So  that  they  seemed  rather  lodged 
in  some  temple,  or  some  holy  virgin  chambers,  where  they 
enjoyed  their  privacy  sacred  and  uninterrupted,  than  in 
the  camp  of  an  enemy.  Nevertheless,  Darius'  wife  was 
accounted  the  most  beautiful  princess  then  living,  as  her 
husband  the  tallest  and  handsomest  man  of  his  time,  and 
the  daughters  were  not  unworthy  of  their  parents. 


92  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

In  his  diet,  Alexander  was  most  temperate.  For  when 
Ada,  his  adopted  mother,  out  of  kindness  sent  him  every 
day  many  curious  dishes  and  sweetmeats,  and  would  have 
furnished  him  with  some  cooks  and  pastry-men,  who  were 
thought  to  have  great  skill,  he  told  her  he  wanted  none  of 
them,  his  preceptor,  Leonidas,  having  already  given  him 
the  best,  which  were  a  night  march  to  prepare  for  break- 
fast, and  a  moderate  breakfast  to  create  an  appetite  for 
supper.  Leonidas  also,  he  added,  used  to  open  and  search 
the  furniture  of  his  chamber,  and  his  wardrobe,  to  see  if 
his  mother  had  left  him  anything  that  was  delicate  or 
superfluous.  He  was  much  less  addicted  to  wine  than  was 
generally  believed;  that  which  gave  people  occasion  to 
think  so  of  him  was  that,  when  he  had  nothing  else  to  do, 
he  loved  to  sit  long  and  talk,  rather  than  drink,  and  over 
every  cup  hold  a  long  conversation.  For  when  his  affairs 
called  upon  him,  he  would  not  be  detained,  as  other  gen- 
erals often  were,  either  by  wine,  or  sleep,  nuptial  solem- 
nities, spectacles,  or  any  other  diversion  whatsoever;  a 
convincing  argument  of  which  is  that,  in  the  short  time 
he  lived,  he  accomplished  so  many  and  so  great  actions. 
When  he  was  free  from  employment,  after  he  was  up,  and 
had  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  he  used  to  sit  down  to  break- 
fast, and  then  spend  the  rest  of  the  day  in  hunting,  or 
writing  memoirs,  giving  decisions  on  some  military  ques- 
tions, or  reading.  In  marches  that  required  no  great  haste, 
he  would  practise  shooting  as  he  went  along,  or  to  mount 
a  chariot,  and  alight  from  it  in  full  speed. 

Darius  wrote  him  a  letter,  and  sent  friends  to  intercede 
with  him,  requesting  him  to  accept  as  a  ransom  of  his  cap- 
tives the  sum  of  a  thousand  talents,  and  offering  him,  in 
exchange  for  his  amity  and  alliance,  all  the  countries  on 


ALEXANDER.  93 

this  side  the  river  Euphrates,  together  with  one  of  his 
daughters  in  marriage.  These  propositions  he  communi- 
cated to  his  friends,  and  when  Parmenio  told  him  that,  for 
his  part,  if  he  were  Alexander,  he  should  readily  embrace 
them,  "  So  would  I,"  said  Alexander,  "  if  I  were  Parme- 
nio." Accordingly,  his  answer  to  Darius  was  that,  if  he 
would  come  and  yield  himself  up  into  his  power,  he  would 
treat  him  with  all  possible  kindness ;  if  not,  he  was  re- 
solved immediately  to  go  himself  and  seek  him.  But  the 
death  of  Darius'  wife  made  him  soon  after  regret  one  part 
of  this  answer,  and  he  showed  evident  marks  of  grief,  at 
being  thus  deprived  of  a  further  opportunity  of  exercising 
his  clemency  and  good  nature,  which  he  manifested,  how- 
ever, as  far  as  he  could,  by  giving  her  a  most  sumptuous 
funeral. 

Among  those  who  waited  in  the  queen's  chamber,  and 
were  taken  prisoners  with  the  women,  there  was  one 
Tireus,  who,  getting  out  of  the  camp,  fled  away  on  horse- 
back to  Darius,  to  inform  him  of  his  wife's  death.  He, 
when  he  heard  it,  beating  his  head,  and  bursting  into  tears 
and  lamentations,  said,  "  Alas !  how  great  is  the  calamity 
of  the  Persians !  Was  it  not  enough  that  their  king's  con- 
sort and  sister  was  a  prisoner  in  her  lifetime,  but  she  must, 
now  she  is  dead  also,  be  but  meanly  and  obscurely  bur- 
ied?" "Oh,  king,"  replied  Tireus,  "as  to  her  funeral 
rites,  or  any  respect  or  honor  that  should  have  been  shown 
in  them,  you  have  not  the  least  reason  to  accuse  the  ill- 
fortune  of  your  country;  for  to  my  knowledge  neither 
your  queen  Statira,  when  alive,  nor  your  mother,  nor  chil- 
dren, wanted  anything  of  their  former  happy  condition, 
unless  it  were  the  light  of  your  countenance,  which  I 
doubt  not  but  the  lord  Oromasdes  will  yet  restore  to  its 


94  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

former  glory.  And  after  her  decease,  I  assure  you,  she 
had  not  only  all  due  funeral  ornaments,  but  was  honored 
also  with  the  tears  of  your  very  enemies ;  for  Alexander 
is  as  gentle  after  victory,  as  he  is  terrible  in  the  field." 
Darius,  breaking  away  from  him  into  the  other  division  of 
the  tent,  where  his  friends  and  courtiers  were,  lifted  up 
his  hands  to  heaven,  and  uttered  this  prayer :  "  Ye  gods," 
said  he,  "of  my  family,  and  of  my  kingdom,  if  it  be  possi- 
ble, I  beseech  you  to  restore  the  declining  affairs  of  Persia, 
that  I  may  leave  them  in  as  flourishing  a  condition  as  I 
found  them,  and  have  it  in  my  power  to  make  a  grateful 
return  to  Alexander  for  the  kindness  which  in  my  adver- 
sity he  has  shown  to  those  who  are  dearest  to  me.  But  if, 
indeed,  the  fatal  time  be  come,  which  is  to  put  an  end 
to  the  Persian  monarchy,  if  our  ruin  be  a  debt  that  must 
be  paid  to  the  divine  jealousy  and  the  vicissitude  of  things, 
then  I  beseech  you  grant  that  no  other  man  but  Alexan- ' 
der  may  sit  upon  the  throne  of  Cyrus." 

After  Alexander  had  reduced  all  Asia  on  this  side  the 
Euphrates,  he  advanced  towards  Darius,  who  was  coming 
down  against  him  with  a  million  of  men.  The  oldest  of 
his  commanders,  and  chiefly  Parmenio,  when  they  beheld 
all  the  plain  shining  with  the  lights  and  fires  which  were 
made  by  the  barbarians,  and  heard  the  uncertain  and  con- 
fused sound  of  voices  out  of  their  camp,  like  the  distant 
roaring  of  a  vast  ocean,  were  so  amazed  at  the  thoughts  of 
such  a  multitude  that  after  some  conference  among  them- 
selves, they  concluded  it  an  enterprise  too  difiicult  and 
hazardous  for  them  to  engage  so  numerous  an  enemy  in 
the  day,  and  therefore,  meeting  the  king  as  he  came  from 
sacrificing,  besought  him  to  attack  Darius  by  night,  that 
the  darkness  might  copceal  the  danger  of  the  ensuing  bat- 


ALEXANDER.  95 

tie.  To  this  he  gave  them  the  celebrated  answer,  "  I  will 
not  steal  a  victory,"  which,  though  some  at  the  time 
thought  a  boyish  and  inconsiderate  speech,  as  if  he  played 
with  danger,  others,  however,  regarded  as  an  evidence  that 
he  confided  in  his  present  condition,  and  acted  on  a  true 
judgment  of  the  future,  not  wishing  to  leave  Darius,  in 
case  he  were  worsted,  the  pretext  of  trying  his  fortune 
again,  w^hich  he  might  suppose  himself  to  have,  if  he  could 
impute  his  overthrow  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  night,  as 
he  did  before  to  the  mountains,  the  narrow  passages,  and 
the  sea.  For,  while  he  had  such  numerous  forces  and 
large  dominions  still  remaining,  it  was  not  any  want  of 
men  or  arms  that  could  induce  him  to  give  up  the  war, 
but  only  the  loss  of  all  courage  and  hope,  upon  the  convic- 
tion of  an  undeniable  and  manifest  defeat. 

After  they  were  gone  from  him  with  this  answer,  he 
'  laid  himself  down  in  his  tent  and  slept  the  rest  of  the 
night  more  soundly  than  was  usual  with  him,  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  commanders,  who  came  to  him  early 
in  the  morning,  and  were  fain  themselves  to  give  order 
that  the  soldiers  should  breakfast.  But  at  last,  time  not 
giving  them  leave  to  wait  any  longer,  Parmenio  went  to 
his  bedside,  and  called  him  twice  or  thrice  by  his  name, 
till  he  waked  him,  and  then  asked  him  how  it  was  possi- 
ble, when  he  was  to  fight  the  most  important  battle  of  all, 
he  could  sleep  as  soundly  as  if  he  were  already  victorious. 
"And  are  we  not  so,  indeed,"  replied  Alexander,  smiling, 
"since  we  are  at  last  relieved  from  the  trouble  of  wan- 
dering in  pursuit  of  Darius  through  a  wide  and  wasted 
country,  hoping  in  vain  that  he  would  fight  us  ?  "  And 
not  only  before  the  battle,  but  in  the  height  of  the  dan- 
ger, he  showed  himself   great,  and  manifested   the  self- 


96  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

possession  of  a  just  foresight  and  confidence.  For  the 
battle  for  some  time  fluctuated  and  was  dubious.  The 
left  wing,  where  Parmenio  commanded,  was  so  impetu- 
ously charged  by  the  Bactrian  horse  that  it  was  disordered 
and  forced  to  give  ground,  at  the  same  time  that  Mazseus 
had  sent  a  detachment  round  about  to  fall  upon  those 
who  guarded  the  baggage,  which  so  disturbed  Parmenio, 
that  he  sent  messengers  to  acquaint  Alexander  that  the 
camp  and  baggage  would  be  all  lost  unless  he  immediately 
relieved  the  rear  by  a  considerable  reinforcement  drawn 
out  of  the  front.  This  message  being  brought  him  just 
as  he  was  giving  the  signal  to  those  about  him  for  the 
onset,  he  bade  them  tell  Parmenio  that  he  must  have 
surely  lost  the  use  of  his  reason,  and  had  forgotten,  in  his 
alarm,  that  soldiers,  if  victorious,  become  masters  of  their 
enemies'  baggage ;  and  if  defeated,  instead  of  taking  care 
of  their  wealth  or  their  slaves,  have  nothing  more  to  do 
but  to  fight  gallantly  and  die  with  honor.  When  he  had 
said  this,  he  put  on  his  helmet,  having  the  rest  of  his 
arms  on  before  he  came  out  of  his  tent,  which  were  a 
coat  of  the  Sicilian  make,  girt  close  about  him,  and  over 
that  a  breastpiece  of  thickly  quilted  linen,  which  was 
taken  among  other  booty  at  the  battle  of  Issus.  The 
helmet,  which  was  made  by  Theophilus,  though  of  iron, 
was  so  well  wrought  and  polished,  that  it  was  as  bright  as 
the  most  refined  silver.  To  this  was  fitted  a  gorget  of  the 
same  metal,  set  with  precious  stones.  His  sword,  which 
was  the  weapon  he  most  used  in  fight,  was  given  him  by 
the  king  of  the  Citieans,  and  was  of  an  admirable  temper 
and  lightness.  The  belt  which  he  also  wore  in  all  en- 
gagements, was  of   much  richer  workmanship   than  the 

Gorget  (gor-jet) :  armor  for  the  neck. 


ALEXANDER.  97 

rest  of  his  armor.  It  was  a  work  of  the  ancient  Helicon, 
and  had  been  presented  to  him  by  the  Rhodians,  as  a 
mark  of  their  respect  to  him.  So  long  as  he  was  engaged 
in  drawing  up  his  men,  or  riding  about  to  give  orders  or 
directions,  or  to  view  them,  he  spared  Bucephalas,  who 
was  now  growing  old,  and  made  use  of  another  horse;  but 
when  he  was  actually  to  fight,  he  sent  for  him  again,  and 
as  soon  as  he  was  mounted,  commenced  the  attack. 

He  made  the  longest  address  that  day  to  the  Thessa- 
lians  and  other  Greeks,  who  answered  him  with  loud 
shouts,  desiring  him  to  lead  them  on  against  the  barba- 
rians, upon  which  he  shifted  his  javelin  into  his  left  hand, 
and  with  his  right  lifted  up  towards  heaven,  besought 
the  gods,  as  Callisthenes  tells  us,  that  if  he  was  of  a  truth 
the  son  of  Jupiter,  they  would  be  pleased  to  assist  and 
strengthen  the  Grecians.  At  the  same  time  the  augur 
Aristander,  who  had  a  white  mantle  about  him,  and  a 
crown  of  gold  on  his  head,  rode  by  and  showed  them  an 
eagle  that  soared  just  over  Alexander,  and  directed  his 
flight  towards  the  enemy;  which  so  animated  the  be- 
holders, that  after  mutual  encouragements  and  exhorta- 
tions, the  horse  charged  at  full  speed,  and  were  followed 
in  a  mass  by  the  whole  phalanx  of  the  foot.  But  before 
they  could  well  come  to  blows  with  the  first  ranks,  the 
barbarians  shrunk  back,  and  were  hotly  pursued  by  Alex- 
ander, who  drove  those  that  fled  before  him  into  the  mid- 
dle of  the  battle,  where  Darius  himself  was  in  person, 
whom  he  saw  from  a  distance  over  the  foremost  ranks, 
conspicuous  in  the  midst  of  his  life-guard,  a  tall  and  fine- 
looking  man,  drawn  in  a  lofty  chariot,  defended  by  an 
abundance  of  the  best  horse,  who  stood  close  in  order 
about  it,  ready  to  receive  the  enemy.     But  Alexander's 


98  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

approach  was  so  terrible,  forcing  those,  who  gave  back 
upon  those  who  yet  maintained  their  ground,  that  he 
beat  down  and  dispersed  them  almost  all.  Only  a  few  of 
the  bravest  and  valiantest  opposed  the  pursuit,  who  were 
slain  in  their  king's  presence,  falling  in  heaps  upon  one 
another,  and  in  the  very  pangs  of  death  striving  to  catch 
hold  of  the  horses.  Darius  now  seeing  all  was  lost,  that 
those  who  were  placed  in  front  to  defend  him  were  broken 
and  beat  back  upon  him,  that  he  could  not  turn  or  dis- 
engage his  chariot  without  great  difficulty,  the  wheels 
being  clogged  and  entangled  among  the  dead  bodies, 
which  lay  in  such  heaps  as  not  only  stopped,  but  almost 
covered  the  horses,  and  made  them  rear  and  grow  so 
unruly,  that  the  frighted  charioteer  could  govern  them  no 
longer ;  in  this  extremity^was  glad  to  quit  his  chariot  and 
his  arms,  and  mounting,  it  is  said,  upon  a  mare  that  had 
been  taken  from  her  foal,  betook  himself  to  flight.  But 
he  had  not  escaped  so  either,  if  Parmenio  had  not  sent 
fresh  messengers  to  Alexander,  to  desire  him  to  return 
and  assist  him  against  a  considerable  body  of  the  enemy 
which  yet  stood  together,  and  would  not  give  ground. 
For,  indeed,  Parmenio  is  on  all  hands  accused  of  having 
been  sluggish  and  unserviceable  in  this  battle,  whether 
age  had  impaired  his  courage,  or  that,  as  Callisthenes 
says,  he  secretly  disliked  and  envied  Alexander's  growing 
greatness.  Alexander,  though  he  was  not  a  little  vexed 
to  be  so  recalled  and  hindered  from  pursuing  his  victory, 
yet  concealed  the  true  reason  from  his  men,  and  causing  a 
retreat  to  be  sounded,  as  if  it  were  too  late  to  continue 
the  execution  any  longer,  marched  back  towards  the  place 
of  danger,  and  by  the  way  met  with  the  news  of  the 
enemy's  total  overthrow  and  flight. 


ALEXANDER.  99 

This  battle  being  thus  over,  seemed  to  put  an  end  to 
the  Persian  empire;  and  Alexander,  who  was  now  pro- 
claimed king  of  Asia,  returned  thanks  to  the  gods  in  mag- 
nificent sacrifices,  and  rewarded  his  friends  and  followers 
with  great  sums  of  money,  and  places,  and  governments 
of  provinces.  And  eager  to  gain  honor  with  the  Grecians, 
he  wrote  to  them  that  he  would  have  all  tyrannies  abol- 
ished, that  they  might  live  free  according  to  their  own 
laws,  and  specially  to  the  Plataeans,  that  their  city  should 
be  rebuilt,  because  their  ancestors  had  permitted  their 
countrymen  of  old  to  make  their  territory  the  seat  of  the 
war,  when  they  fought  with  the  barbarians  for  their  com- 
mon liberty. 

Alexander  was  naturally  most  munificent,  and  grew 
more  so  as  his  fortune  increased,  accompanying  what  he 
gave  with  that  courtesy  and  freedom,  which,  to  speak 
truth,  is  necessary  to  make  a  benefit  really  obliging.  To 
Parmenio  he  gave  a  wardrobe  of  apparel  worth  more  than 
a  thousand  talents.  He  wrote  to  Antipater,  commanding 
him  to  keep  a  life-guard  about  him  for  the  security  of  his 
person  against  conspiracies.  To  his  mother  he  sent  many 
presents,  but  would  never  suffer  her  to  meddle  with  mat- 
ters of  state  or  war,  not  indulging  her  busy  temper,  and 
when  she  fell  out  with  him  upon  this  account,  he  bore  her 
ill-humor  very  patiently.  Nay  more,  when  he  read  a  long 
letter  from  Antipater,  full  of  accusations  against  her, 
"  Antipater,"  he  said,  "  does  not  know  that  one  tear  of  a 
mother  effaces  a  thousand  such  letters  as  these." 

But  when  he  perceived  his  favorites  grow  so  luxurious 
and  extravagant  in  their  way  of  living  and  expenses,  that 
Hagnon,  the  Teian,  wore  silver  nails  in  his  shoes,  that 
Leonnatus  employed   several    camels,  only  to  bring  him 


100  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

powder  out  of  Egypt  to  use  when  he  wrestled,  and  that 
Philotas  had  hunting  nets  a  hundred  furlongs  in  length, 
that  more  used  precious  ointment  than  plain  oil  when 
they  went  to  bathe,  and  that  they  carried  about  servants 
everywhere  with  them  to  rub  them  and  wait  upon  them  in 
their  chambers,  he  reproved  them  in  gentle  and  reasona- 
ble terms,  telling  them  he  wondered  that  they  who  had 
been  engaged  in  so  many  signal  battles  did  not  know 
by  experience,  that  those  who  labor  sleep  more  sweetly 
and  soundly  than  those  who  are  labored  for,  and  could 
fail  to  see  by  comparing  the  Persians'  manner  of  living 
with  their  own,  that  it  was  the  most  abject  and  slavish 
condition  to  be  voluptuous,  but  the  most  noble  and  royal 
to  undergo  pain  and  labor.  He  argued  with  them  further, 
how  it  was  possible  for  any  one  who  pretended  to  be  a 
soldier,  either  to  look  well  after  his  horse,  or  to  keep  his 
armor  bright  and  in  good  order,  who  thought  it  much  to 
let  his  hands  be  serviceable  to  what  was  nearest  to  him, 
his  own  body.  "Are  you  still  to  learn,"  said  he,  "that 
the  end  and  perfection  of  our  victories  is  to  avoid  the 
vices  and  infirmities  of  those  whom  we  subdue  ?  "  And 
to  strengthen  his  precept  by  example,  he  applied  himself 
now  more  vigorously  than  ever  to  hunting  and  warlike 
expeditions,  embracing  all  opportunities  of  hardship  and 
danger,  insomuch  that  a  Lacedaemonian,  who  was  there 
on  an  embassy  to  him,  and  chanced  to  be  by  when  he 
encountered  with  and  mastered  a  huge  lion,  told  him  he 
had  fought  gallantly  with  the  beast,  which  of  the  two 
should  be  king.  Alexander  exposed  his  person  to  danger 
in  this  manner,  with  the  object  both  of  inuring  himself, 
and  inciting  others  to  the  performance  of  brave  and  vir- 
tuous actions. 


ALEXANDER.  101 

But  his  followers,  who  were  grown'  rich/ arid 'cVnse- 
quently  proud,  longed  to  indulge  themselves  in  pleasure 
and  idleness,  and  were  weary  of  marches  and  expeditions, 
and  at  last  went  on  so  far  as  to  censure  and  speak  ill  of 
him.  All  which  at  first  he  bore  very  patiently,  saying, 
it  became  a  king  well  to  do  good  to  others,  and  be  evil 
spoken  of.  Meantime,  on  the  smallest  occasions  that 
called  for  a  show  of  kindness  to  his  friends,  there  was 
every  indication  on  his  part  of  tenderness  and  respect. 
Hearing  Peucestes  was  bitten  by  a  bear,  he  wrote  to  him, 
that  he  took  it  unkindly  he  should  send  others  notice  of 
it,  and  not  make  him  acquainted  with  it;  "But  now," 
said  he,  "since  it  is  so,  let  me  know  how  you  do,  and 
whether  any  of  your  companions  forsook  you  when  you 
were  in  danger,  that  I  may  punish  them." 

It  is  reported  of  him  that  when  he  first  sat  in  judgment 
upon  capital  causes,  he  would  lay  his  hand  upon  one  of 
his  ears  while  the  accuser  spoke,  to  keep  it  free  and  un- 
prejudiced in  behalf  of  the  party  accused.  But  after- 
wards such  a  multitude  of  accusations  were  brought 
before  him,  and  so  many  proved  true,  that  he  lost  his 
tenderness  of  heart,  and  gave  credit  to  those  also  that 
were  false ;  and  especially  when  anybody  spoke  ill  of  him 
he  would  be  transported  out  of  his  reason,  and  show  him- 
self cruel  and  inexorable,  valuing  his  glory  and  reputa- 
tion beyond  his  life  or  kingdom. 

He  now  set  forth  to  seek  Darius,  expecting  he  should 
be  put  to  the  hazard  of  another  battle,  but  heard  he  was 
taken  and  secured  by  Bessus,  upon  which  news  he  sent 
home  the  Thessalians,  and  gave  them  a  largess  of  two 
thousand  talents  over  and  above  the  pay  that  was  due  to 
them.     This  long  and  painful  pursuit  of  Darius,  for  in 


102  PLUTARCH^S  LIVES. 

eteveii  days  he  marched  thirty-three  hundred  furlongs,^ 
harassed  his  soldiers  so  that  most  of  them  were  ready  to 
give  it  up,  chiefly  for  want  of  water.  While  they  were  in 
this  distress,  it  happened  that  some  Macedonians  who  had 
fetched  water  in  skins  upon  their  mules  from  a  river  they 
had  found  out,  came  about  noon  to  the  place  where  Alex- 
ander was,  and  seeing  him  almost  choked  with  thirst, 
presently  filled  an  helmet  and  offered  it  him.  He  asked 
them  to  whom  they  were  carrying  the  water ;  they  told 
him  to  their  children,  adding,  that  if  his  life  were  but 
saved,  it  was  no  matter  for  them,  they  should  be  able  well 
enough  to  repair  that  loss,  though  they  all  perished. 
Then  he  took  the  helmet  into  his  hands,  and  looking 
round  about,  when  he  saw  all  those  who  were  near  him 
stretching  their  heads  out  and  looking  earnestly  after  the 
drink,  he  returned  it  again  with  thanks  without  tasting  a 
drop  of  it,  "  For,"  said  he,  "  if  I  alone  should  drink,  the 
rest  will  be  out  of  heart."  The  soldiers  no  sooner  took 
notice  of  his  temperance  and  magnanimity  upon  this 
occasion,  but  they  one  and  all  cried  out  to  him  to  lead 
them  forward  boldly,  and  began  whipping  on  their  horses. 
For  whilst  they  had  such  a  king,  they  said,  they  defied 
both  weariness  and  thirst,  and  looked  upon  themselves  to 
be  little  less  than  immortal.  But  though  they  were  all 
equally  cheerful  and  willing,  yet  not  above  threescore 
horse  were  able,  it  is  said,  to  keep  up,  and  to  fall  in  with 
Alexander  upon  the  enemy's  camp,  where  they  rode  over 
abundance  of  gold  and  silver  that  lay  scattered  about, 
and  passing  by  a  great  many  chariots  full  of  women  that 
wandered  here  and  there  for  want  of  drivers,  they  en- 
deavored to  overtake  the  first  of  those  that  fled,  in  hopes 
to  meet  with   Darius   among   them.     And  at  last,  after 

1  About  three  hundred  and  fifteen  miles. 


ALEXANDER.  103 

much  trouble,  they  found  him  lying  in  a  chariot,  wounded 
all  over  with  darts,  just  at  the  point  of  death.  How- 
ever, he  desired  they  would  give  him  some  drink,  and 
when  he  had  drunk  a  little  cold  water,  he  told  Poly- 
stratus,  who  gave  it  him,  that  it  had  become  the  last  ex- 
tremity of  his  ill  fortune,  to  receive  benefits  and  not  be 
able  to  return  them."  "But  Alexander,"  said  he,  "whose 
kindness  to  my  mother,  my  wife,  and  my  children  I  hope 
the  gods  will  recompense,  will  doubtless  thank  you  for 
your  humanity  to  me.  Tell  him,  therefore,  in  token  of 
my  acknowledgment,  I  give  him  this  right  hand,"  with 
which  words  he  took  hold  of  Polystratus'  hand  and  died. 
When  Alexander  came  up  to  them,  he  showed  manifest 
tokens  of  sorrow,  and  taking  off  his  own  cloak,  threw  it 
upon  the  body  to  cover  it.  Darius'  body  was  laid  in 
state,  and  sent  to  his  mother  with  pomp  suitable  to  his 
quality.  His  brother  Exathres,  Alexander  received  into 
the  number  of  his  intimate  friends. 

And  now  with  the  flower  of  his  army  he  marched  into 
Hyrcania. 

From  hence  he  marched  into  Parthia,  where  not  having 
much  to  do,  he  first  put  on  the  barbaric  dress,  perhaps 
with  the  view  of  making  the  work  of  civilizing  them  the 
easier,  as  nothing  gains  more  upon  men  than  a  conformity 
to  their  fashions  and  customs.  Or  it  may  have  been  as  a 
first  trial,  whether  the  Macedonians  might  be  brought  to 
adore  him,  as  the  Persians  did  their  kings,  by  accustoming 
them  by  little  and  little  to  bear  with  the  alteration  of  his 
rule  and  course  of  life  in  other  things. 

Apprehending  the  Macedonians  would  be  weary  of  pur- 
suing the  war,  he  left  the  greater  part  of  them  in  their 
quarters ;  and  having  with  him  in  Hyrcania  the  choice  of 


104  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

his  men  only,  amounting  to  twenty  thousand  foot,  and 
three  thousand  horse,  he  spoke  to  them  to  this  effect: 
That  hitherto  the  barbarians  had  seen  them  no  otherwise 
than  as  it  were  in  a  dream,  and  if  they  should  think  of 
returning  when  they  had  only  alarmed  Asia,  and  not  con- 
quered it,  their  enemies  would  set  upon  them  as  upon  so 
many  women.  However,  he  told  them  he  would  keep 
none  of  them  with  him  against  their  will,  they  might  go 
if  they  pleased;  he  should  merely  enter  his  protest,  that 
when  on  his  way  to  make  the  Macedonians  the  masters  of 
the  world,  he  was  left  alone  with  a  few  friends  and  vol- 
unteers. This  is  almost  word  for  word,  as  he  wrote 
in  a  letter  to  Antipater,  where  he  adds,  that  when  he 
had  thus  spoken  to  them,  they  all  cried  out,  they  would 
go  along  with  him  whithersoever  it  was  his  pleasure  to 
lead  them.  After  succeeding  with  these,  it  was  no  hard 
matter  for  him  to  bring  over  the  multitude,  which  easily 
followed  the  example  of  their  betters.  Now,  also,  he 
more  and  more  accommodated  himself  in  his  way  of 
living  to  that  of  the  natives,  and  tried  to  bring  them, 
also,  as  near  as  he  could  to  the  Macedonian  customs, 
wisely  considering  that  whilst  he  was  engaged  in  an 
expedition  which  would  carry  him  far  from  thence,  it 
would  be  wiser  to  depend  upon  the  good-will  which 
might  arise  from  intermixture  and  association  as  a  means 
of  maintaining  tranquillity,  than  upon  force  and  com- 
pulsion. In  order  to  this,  he  chose  out  thirty  thousand 
boys,  whom  he  put  under  masters  to  teach  them  the 
Greek  tongue,  and  to  train  them  up  to  arms  in  the  Mace- 
donian discipline.  As  for  his  marriage  with  Roxana, 
whose  youthfulness  and  beauty  had  charmed  him  at  a 
drinking   entertainment,  where  he   first  happened  to  see 


ALEXANDER.  105 

her,  taking  part  in  a  dance,  it  was,  indeed,  a  love  affair,, 
yet  it  seemed  at  the  same  time  to  be  conducive  to  the 
object  he  had  in  hand.  For  it  gratified  the  conquered- 
people  to  see  him  choose  a  wife  from  among  themselves. 

Alexander,  now  intent  upon  his  expedition  into  India, 
took  notice  that  his  soldiers  were  so  charged  with  booty 
that  it  hindered  their  marching.  Therefore,  at  break  of 
day,  as  soon  as  the  baggage  wagons  were  laden,  first  he 
set  fire  to  his  own,  and  to  those  of  his  friends,  and  then 
commanded  those  to  be  burned  which  belonged  to  the  rest 
of  the  army.  An  act  which  in  the  deliberation  of  it  had 
seemed  more  dangerous  and  difficult  than  it  proved  in  the 
execution,  with  which  few  were  dissatisfied ;  for  most  of 
the  soldiers,  as  if  they  had  been  inspired,  uttering  loud 
outcries  and  warlike  shoutings,  supplied  one  another  with 
what  was  absolutely  necessary,  and  burnt  and  destroyed 
all  that  was  superfluous,  the  sight  of  which  redoubled 
Alexander's  zeal  and  eagerness  for  his  design. 

He  still  applied  himself  to  overcome  fortune  and  what- 
ever opposed  him,  by  resolution  and  virtue,  and  thought 
nothing  impossible  to  true  intrepidity,  and  on  the  other 
hand  nothing  secure  or  strong  for  cowardice.  It  is  told  of 
him,  that  when  he  besieged  Sisimithres,  who  held  an  inac- 
cessible, impregnable  rock  against  him,  and  his  soldiers 
began  to  despair  of  taking  it,  he  asked  whether  Sisimithres 
was  a  man  of  courage.  On  being  assured  he  was  the 
greatest  coward  alive,  "  Then  you  tell  me,"  said  he,  "  that 
the  place  may  easily  be  taken,  since  what  is  in  command 
of  it  is  weak."  And  in  a  little  time  he  so  terrified  Sisimi- 
thres, that  he  took  it  without  any  difficulty. 

The  extent  of  king  Taxiles'  dominions  in  India  was 
thought  to  be  as  large  as  Egypt,  abounding  in  good  pas- 


106  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

tures,  and  producing  beautiful  fruits.  The  king  himself 
had  the  reputation  of  a  wise  man,  and  at  his  first  inter- 
view with  Alexander, he  spoke  to  him  in  these  terms:  "To 
what  purpose,"  said  he,  "  should  we  make  war  upon  one 
another,  if  the  design  of  your  coming  into  these  parts  be 
not  to  rob  us  of  our  water  or  our  necessary  food,  which 
are  the  only  things  that  wise  men  are  indispensably  obliged 
to  fight  for  ?  As  for  other  riches  and  possessions,  as  they 
are  accounted  in  the  eye  of  the  world,  if  I  am  better  pro- 
vided of  them  than  you,  I  am  ready  to  let  you  share  with 
me ;  but  if  fortune  has  been  more  liberal  to  you  than  me, 
I  have  no  objection  to  be  obliged  to  you."  This  discourse 
pleased  Alexander  so  much  that,  embracing  him,  "Do  you 
think,"  said  he  to  him,  "your  kind  words  and  courteous 
behavior  will  bring  you  off  in  this  interview  without  a 
contest?  No,  you  shall  not  escape  so.  I  shall  contend 
and  do  battle  with  you  so  far  that,  how  obliging  soever 
you  are,  you  shall  not  have  the  better  of  me."  Then 
receiving  some  presents  from  him,  he  returned  him  others 
of  greater  value,  and  to  complete  his  bounty,  gave  him  in 
money,  ready  coined,  one  thousand  talents ;  at  which  his 
old  friends  were  much  displeased,  but  it  gained  him  the 
hearts  of  many  of  the  barbarians. 

Alexander,  in  his  own  letters,  has  given  us  an  account 
of  his  war  with  Porus.  He  says  the  two  armies  were 
separated  by  the  river  Hydaspes,  on  whose  opposite  bank 
Porus  continually  kept  his  elephants  in  order  of  battle, 
with  their  heads  towards  their  enemies,  to  guard  the  pas- 
sage ;  that  he,  on  the  other  hand,  made  every  day  a  great 
noise  and  clamor  in  his  camp,  to  dissipate  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  barbarians  ;  that  one  stormy  dark  night  he 
passed  the  river,  at  a  distance  from  the  place  where  the 


ALEXANDER.  107 

enemy  lay,  into  a  little  island,  with  part  of  his  foot,  and 
the  best  of  his  horse.  Here  there  fell  a  most  violent  storm 
of  rain,  accompanied  with  lightning  and  whirlwinds,  and 
seeing  some  of  his  men  burnt  and  dying  with  the  lightning, 
he  nevertheless  quitted  the  island  and  made  over  to  the 
other  side.  The  Hydaspes,  he  says,  now  after  the  storm, 
was  so  swollen  and  grown  so  rapid,  as  to  have  made  a 
breach  in  the  bank,  and  a  part  of  the  river  was  now  pour- 
ing in  here,  so  that  when  he  came  across,  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty he  got  a  footing  on  the  land,  which  was  slippery  and 
unsteady,  and  exposed  to  the  force  of  the  currents  on  both 
sides.  This  is  the  occasion  when  he  is  related  to  have 
said,  "  O  ye  Athenians,  will  ye  believe  what  dangers  I 
incur  to  merit  your  praise?"  Alexander  says,  here  the 
men  left  their  boats,  and  passed  the  breach  in  their  armor, 
up  to  the  breast  in  water,  and  that  then  he  advanced  with 
his  horse  about  twenty  furlongs  before  his  foot,  concluding 
that  if  the  enemy  charged  him  with  their  cavalry,  he  should 
be  too  strong  for  them ;  if  with  their  foot,  his  own  would 
come  up  time  enough  to  his  assistance.  Nor  did  he  judge 
amiss ;  for  being  charged  by  a  thousand  horse,  and  sixty 
armed  chariots,  which  advanced  before  their  main  body, 
he  took  all  the  chariots,  and  killed  four  hundred  horse 
upon  the  place.  Porus,  by  this  time  guessing  that  Alex- 
ander himself  had  crossed  over,  came  on  with  his  whole 
army,  except  a  party  which  he  left  behind,  to  hold  the 
rest  of  the  Macedonians  in  play,  if  they  should  attempt 
to  pass  the  river.  But  he,  apprehending  the  multitude 
of  the  enemy,  and  to  avoid  the  shock  of  their  elephants, 
dividing  his  forces,  attacked  their  left  wing  himself,  and 
commanded  Coenus  to  fall  upon  the  right,  which  was  per- 
formed with  good  success.     For  by  this  means  both  wings 


108  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

being  broken,  the  enemies  fell  back  in  their  retreat  upon 
the  centre,  and  crowded  in  upon  their  elephants.  There 
rallying,  they  fought  a  hand  to  hand  battle,  and  it  was  the 
eighth  hour  of  the  day  before  they  were  entirely  defeated. 

Almost  all  the  historians  agree  in  relating  that  Porus 
was  four  cubits  and  a  span  high,  and  that  when  he  was 
upon  his  elephant,  which  was  of  the  largest  size,  his  stat- 
ure and  bulk  were  so  answerable,  that  he  appeared  to  be 
proportionably  mounted,  as  a  horseman  on  his  horse. 
This  elephant,  during  the  whole  battle,  gave  many  singu- 
lar proofs  of  sagacity  and  of  particular  care  of  the  king, 
whom  as  long  as  he  was  strong  and  in  a  condition  to  fight, 
he  defended  with  great  courage,  repelling  those  who  set 
upon  him ;  and  as  soon  as  he  perceived  him  overpowered 
with  his  numerous  wounds  and  the  multitude  of  darts  that 
were  thrown  at  him,  to  prevent  his  falling  off,  he  softly 
knelt  down  and  began  to  draw  out  the  darts  with  his 
proboscis.  When  Porus  was  taken  prisoner,  and  Alex- 
ander asked  him  how  he  expected  to  be  used,  he  answered, 
''As  a  king."  For  that  expression,  he  said,  when  the 
same  question  was  put  to  him  a  second  time,  compre- 
hended everything.  And  Alexander,  accordingly,  not 
only  suffered  him  to  govern  his  own  kingdom  as  satrap 
under  himself,  but  gave  him  also  the  additional  territory 
of  various  independent  tribes. 

But  this  last  combat  with  Porus  took  off  the  edge  of 
the  Macedonians'  courage,  and  stayed  their  further  prog- 
ress into  India.  For  having  found  it  hard  enough  to 
defeat  an  enemy  who  brought  but  twenty  thousand  foot 
and  two  thousand  horse  into  the  field,  they  thought  they 
had  reason  to  oppose  Alexander's  design  of  leading  them 
on  to  pass  the  Ganges  too,  which  they  were  told  was  thirty- 


ALEXANDER.  109 

two  furlongs  broad  and  a  hundred  fathoms  deep,  and  the 
banks  on  the  further  side  covered  with  multitudes  of 
enemies. 

He  at  first  was  so  grieved  and  enraged  at  his  men's 
reluctancy,  that  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  tent,  and  threw 
himself  upon  the  ground,  declaring,  if  they  would  not  pass 
the  Ganges,  he  owed  them  no  thanks  for  anything  they 
had  hitherto  done,  and  that  to  retreat  now,  was  plainly  to 
confess  himself  vanquished.  But  at  last  the  reasonable 
persuasions  of  his  friends  and  the  cries  and  lamentations 
of  his  soldiers,  who  in  a  suppliant  manner  crowded  about 
the  entrance  of  his  tent,  prevailed  with  him  to  think  of 
returning. 

He  was  now  eager  to  see  the  ocean.  To  which  purpose 
he  caused  a  great  many  row-boats  and  rafts  to  be  built,  in 
which  he  fell  gently  down  the  rivers  at  his  leisure,  yet  so 
that  his  navigation  was  neither  unprofitable  nor  inactive. 
For  by  several  descents  upon  the  banks,  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  fortified  towns,  and  consequently  of  the 
country  on  both  sides.  But  at  a  siege  of  a  town  of  the 
MaUians,  who  have  the  repute  of  being  the  bravest  people 
of  India,  he  ran  in  great  danger  of  his  life.  For  having 
beaten  off  the  defendants  with  showers  of  arrows,  he  was 
the  first  man  that  mounted  the  wall  by  a  scaling  ladder, 
which,  as  soon  as  he  was  up,  broke  and  left  him  almost 
alone,  exposed  to  the  darts  which  the  barbarians  threw  at 
him  in  great  numbers  from  below.  In  this  distress,  turn- 
ing himself  as  well  as  he  could,  he  leaped  down  in  the 
midst  of  his  enemies,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  light 
upon  his  feet.  The  brightness  and  clattering  of  his  armor 
when  he  came  to  the  ground,  made  the  barbarians  think 
they  saw  rays  of  light,  or  some  bright  phantom  playing 


110  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

before  his  body,  which  frightened  them  so  at  first,  that 
they  ran  away  and  dispersed.  Till  seeing  him  seconded 
but  by  two  of  his  guards,  they  fell  upon  him  hand  to  hand, 
and  some,  while  he  bravely  defended  himself,  tried  to 
wound  him  through  his  armor  with  their  swords  and 
spears.  And  one  who  stood  further  off,  drew  a  bow  with 
such  just  strength,  that  the  arrow  finding  its  way  through 
his  cuirass,  stuck  in  his  ribs  under  the  breast.  This  stroke 
was  so  violent,  that  it  made  him  give  back,  and  set  one 
knee  to  the  ground,  upon  which  the  man  ran  up  with  his 
drawn  scimitar,  thinking  to  despatch  him,  and  had  done 
it,  if  Peucestes  and  Limnseus  had  not  interposed,  who 
were  both  wounded,  Limnseus  mortally,  but  Peucestes 
stood  his  ground,  while  Alexander  killed  the  barbarian. 
But  this  did  not  free  him  from  danger ;  for  besides  many 
other  wounds,  at  last  he  received  so  weighty  a  stroke  of 
a  club  upon  his  neck,  that  he  was  forced  to  lean  his  body 
against  the  wall,  still,  however,  facing  the  enemy.  At  this 
extremity,  the  Macedonians  made  their  way  in  and  gath- 
ered round  him.  They  took  him  up,  just  as  he  was  faint- 
ing away,  having  lost  all  sense  of  what  was  done  near  him, 
and  conveyed  him  to  his  tent,  upon  which  it  was  presently 
reported  all  over  the  camp  that  he  was  dead.  But  when 
they  had  with  great  difficulty  and  pains  sawed  off  the 
shaft  of  the  arrow,  which  was  of  wood,  and  so  with  much 
trouble  got  off  his  cuirass,  they  came  to  cut  out  the  head 
of  it,  which  was  three  fingers  broad  and  four  long,  and 
stuck  fast  in  the  bone.  During  the  operation,  he  was 
taken  with  almost  mortal  swoonings,  but  when  it  was  out 
he  came  to  himself  again.  Yet  though  all  danger  was 
past,  he  continued  very  weak,  and  confined  himself  a  great 
while  to  a  regular  diet  and  the  method  of  his  cure,  till  one 


ALEXANDER.  Ill 

day  hearing  the  Macedonians  clamoring  outside  in  their 
eagerness  to  see  him,  he  took  his  cloak  and  went  out. 
And  having  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  without  more  delay  he 
went  on  board  again,  and  as  he  coasted  along,  subdued  a 
great  deal  of  the  country  on  both  sides,  and  several  con- 
siderable cities. 

In  this  voyage,  he  took  ten  of  the  Indian  philosophers 
prisoners,  who  had  been  most  active  in  persuading  Sabbas 
to  revolt,  and  had  caused  the  Macedonians  a  great  deal  of 
trouble.  These  men  were  reputed  to  be  extremely  ready 
and  succinct  in  their  answers,  which  he  made  trial  of,  by 
putting  difficult  questions  to  them,  letting  them  know  that 
those  whose  answers  were  not  pertinent,  should  be  put  to 
death,  of  which  he  made  the  eldest  of  them  judge.  The 
first  being  asked  which  he  thought  most  numerous,  the 
dead  or  the  living,  answered,  "  The  living,  because  those 
who  are  dead  are  not  at  all."  Of  the  second,  he  desired 
to  know  whether  the  earth  or  the  sea  produced  the  largest 
beast ;  who  told  him,  "  The  earth,  for  the  sea  is  but  a  part 
of  it."  His  question  to  the  third  was.  Which  is  the  cun- 
ningest  of  beasts?  "That,"  said  he,  "which  men  have 
not  yet  found  out."  He  bade  the  fourth  tell  him  what 
argument  he  used  to  Sabbas  to  persuade  him  to  revolt. 
"  No  other,"  said  he,  "  than  that  he  should  either  live  or 
die  nobly."  Of  the  fifth  he  asked.  Which  was  eldest, 
night  or  day  ?  The  philosopher  replied,  "  Day  was  eldest, 
by  one  day  at  least."  But  perceiving  Alexander  not  well 
satisfied  with  that  account,  he  added,  that  he  ought  not  to 
wonder  if  strange  questions  had  as  strange  answers  made 
to  them.  Then  he  went  on  and  inquired  of  the  next,  what 
a  man  should  do  to  be  exceedingly  beloved.  "  He  must 
be  very  powerful,"  said  he,  "  without  making  himself  too 


112  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

much  feared."  The  answer  of  the  seventh  to  his  question, 
how  a  man  might  become  a  god,  was,  "By  doing  that 
which  was  impossible  for  men  to  do."  The  eighth  told  him, 
"  Life  is  stronger  than  death,  because  it  supports  so  many- 
miseries."  And  the  last  being  asked,  how  long  he  thought 
it  decent  for  a  man  to  live,  said,  "Till  death  appeared 
more  desirable  than  life."  Then  Alexander  turned  to 
him  whom  he  had  made  judge,  and  commanded  him  to 
give  sentence.  "All  that  I  can  determine,"  said  he,  "is, 
that  they  have  every  one  answered  worse  than  another." 
"  Nay,"  said  the  king,  "  then  you  shall  die  first,  for  giving 
such  a  sentence."  "  Not  so,  O  king,"  replied  the  philoso- 
pher, "  unless  you  said  falsely  that  he  should  die  first  who 
made  the  worst  answer."  In  conclusion  he  gave  them 
presents  and  dismissed  them.  "^ 

Calanus,  one  of  those  who  were  in  greatest  reputation 
among  them,  and  lived  a  private  quiet  life,  is  said  to  have 
shown  Alexander  an  instructive  emblem  of  government, 
which  was  this.  He  threw  a  dry,  shrivelled  hide  upon  the 
ground,  and  trod  upon  the  edges  of  it.  The  skin,  when  it 
was  pressed  in  one  place,  still  rose  up  in  another,  whereso- 
ever he  trod  round  about  it,  till  he  set  his  foot  in  the  mid- 
dle, which  made  all  the  parts  lie  even  and  quiet.  The 
meaning  of  this  similitude  being  that  he  ought  to  reside 
most  in  the  middle  of  his  empire,  and  not  spend  too  mucli 
time  on  the  borders  of  it. 

His  voyage  down  the  rivers  took  up  seven  months'  time, 
and  when  he  came  to  the  sea,  he  sailed  to  an  island,  where, 
going  ashore,  he  sacrificed,  and  made  what  observations 
he  could  as  to  the  nature  of  the  sea  and  the  sea-coast. 
Then  having  besought  the  gods  that  no  other  man  might 
ever  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  this  expedition,  he  ordered 


ALEXANDER.  113 

his  fleet,  of  which  he  made  Nearchus  admiral,  and  Onesi- 
critus  pilot,  to  sail  round  about,  keeping  the  Indian  shore 
on  the  right  hand,  and  returned  himself  by  land  through 
the  country  of  the  Orites,  where  he  was  reduced  to  great 
straits  for  want  of  provisions,  and  lost  a  vast  number  of 
men,  so  that  of  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thou- 
sand foot  and  fifteen  thousand  horse,  he  scarcely  brought 
back  above  a  fourth  part  out  of  India,  they  were  so  dimin- 
ished by  diseases,  ill-diet,  and  the  scorching  heats,  but 
most  by  famine. 

When  he  came  into  Persia,  finding  Cyrus'  sepulchre 
opened  and  rifled,  he  put  Polymachus,  who  did  it,  to 
death,  though  he  was  a  man  of  some  distinction,  a  born 
Macedonian  of  Pella.  And  after  he  had  read  the  inscrip- 
tion, he  caused  it  to  be  cut  again  below  the  old  one  in 
Greek  characters ;  the  words  being  these :  "  O  man,  who- 
soever thou  art,  and  from  whencesoever  thou  comest  (for 
I  know  thou  wilt  come),  I  am  Cyrus,  the  founder  of  the 
Persian  empire ;  do  not  grudge  me  this  little  earth  which 
covers  my  body."  The  reading  of  this  sensibly  touched 
Alexander,  filling  him  with  the  thought  of  the  uncertainty 
and  mutability  of  human  affairs. 

At  Susa,  he  married  Darius'  daughter  Statira,  and  cele- 
brated also  the  nuptials  of  his  friends,  bestowing  the  no- 
blest of  the  Persian  ladies  upon  the  worthiest  of  them,  at 
the  same  time  making  it  an  entertainment  in  honor  of  the 
other  Macedonians  whose  marriages  had  already  taken 
place.  At  this  magnificent  festival,  it  is  reported,  there 
were  no  less  than  nine  thousand  guests,  to  each  of  whom 
he  gave  a  golden  cup  for  the  libations.  Not  to  mention 
other  instances  of  his  wonderful  magnificence,  he  paid  the 
debts  of  his  army,  which  amounted  to  nine  thousand  eight 


114  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

hundred  and  seventy  talents.  But  Antigenes,  who  had 
lost  one  of  his  eyes,  though  he  owed  nothing,  got  his  name 
set  down  in  the  list  of  those  who  were  in  debt,  and  bring- 
ing one  who  pretended  to  be  his  creditor,  and  to  have  sup- 
plied him  from  the  bank,  received  the  money.  But  when 
the  cheat  was  found  out,  the  king  was  so  incensed  at  it, 
that  he  banished  him  from  court,  and  took  away  his  com- 
mand, though  he  was  an  excellent  soldier,  and  a  man  of 
great  courage.  For  when  he  was  but  a  youth,  and  served 
under  Philip  at  the  siege  of  Perinthus,  where  he  was 
wounded  in  the  eye  by  an  arrow  shot  out  of  an  engine,  he 
would  neither  let  the  arrow  be  taken  out,  nor  be  persuaded 
to  quit  the  field,  till  he  had  bravely  repulsed  the  enemy 
and  forced  them  to  retire  into  the  town.  Accordingly  he 
was  not  able  to  support  such  a  disgrace  with  any  patience, 
and  it  was  plain  that  grief  and  despair  would  have  made 
him  kill  himself,  but  the  king  fearing  it,  not  only  pardoned 
him,  but  let  him  also  enjoy  the  benefit  of  his  deceit. 

The  thirty  thousand  boys  whom  he  left  behind  him  to 
be  taught  and  disciplined,  were  so  improved  at  his  return, 
both  in  strength  and  beauty,  and  performed  their  exercises 
with  such  dexterity  and  wonderful  agility,  that  he  was 
extremely  pleased  with  them,  which  grieved  the  Macedo- 
nians, and  made  them  fear  he  would  have  the  less  value 
for  them.  And  when  he  proceeded  to  send  down  the  in- 
firm and  maimed  soldiers  to  the  sea,  they  said  they  were 
unjustly  and  infamously  dealt  with,  after  they  were  worn 
out  in  his  service  upon  all  occasions,  now  to  be  turned 
away  with  disgrace,  and  sent  home  into  their  country 
among  their  friends  and  relations,  in  a  worse  condition 
than  when  they  came  out ;  therefore  they  desired  him  to 
dismiss  them  one  and  all,  and  to  account  his  Macedonians 


ALEXANDER.  115 

useless,  now  he  was  so  well  furnished  with  a  set  of  danc- 
ing boys,  with  whom,  if  he  pleased,  he  might  go  on  and 
conquer  the  world.  These  speeches  so  incensed  Alexan- 
der that,  after  he  had  given  them  a  great  deal  of  reproach- 
ful language  in  his  passion,  he  drove  them  away,  and 
committed  the  watch  to  Persians,  out  of  whom  he  chose 
his  guards  and  attendants.  When  the  Macedonians  saw 
him  escorted  by  these  men,  and  themselves  excluded  and 
shamefully  disgraced,  their  high  spirits  fell,  and  confer- 
ring with  one  another,  they  found  that  jealousy  and  rage 
had  almost  distracted  them.  But  at  last  coming  to  them- 
selves again,  they  went  without  their  arms,  with  only  their 
under  garments  on,  crying  and  weeping,  to  offer  them- 
selves at  his  tent,  and  desired  him  to  deal  with  them  as 
their  baseness  and  ingratitude  deserved.  However,  this 
would  not  prevail;  for  though  his  anger  was  already  some- 
thing mollified,  yet  he  would  not  admit  them  into  his 
presence,  nor  would  they  stir  from  thence,  but  continued 
two  days  and  nights  before  his  tent,  bewailing  themselves, 
and  imploring  him  as  their  lord  to  have  compassion  on 
them.  But  the  third  day  he  came  out  to  them,  and  seeing 
them  very  humble  and  penitent,  he  wept  himself  a  great 
while,  and  after  a  gentle  reproof  spoke  kindly  to  them, 
and  dismissed  those  who  were  unserviceable  with  magnifi- 
cent rewards,  and  with  this  recommendation  to  Antipater, 
that  when  they  came  home,  at  all  public  shows  and  in  the 
theatres,  they  should  sit  on  the  best  and  foremost  seats, 
crowned  with  chaplets  of  flowers.  He  ordered,  also,  that 
the  children  of  those  who  had  lost  their  lives  in  his  ser- 
vice should  have  their  fathers'  pay  continued  to  them. 

When  once  Alexander  had  given  way  to  fears  of  super- 
natural influence,  his  mind  grew  so  disturbed  and  so  easily 


116  rLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

alarmed,  that  if  the  least  unusual  or  extraordinary  thing 
happened,  he  thought  it  a  prodigy  or  a  presage,  and  his 
court  was  thronged  with  diviners  and  priests  whose  busi- 
ness was  to  sacrifice  and  purify  and  foretell  the  future. 
So  miserable  a  thing  is  incredulity  and  contempt  of  divine 
power  on  the  one  hand,  and  so  miserable,  also,  superstition 
on  the  other,  which  like  water,  where  the  level  has  been 
lowered,  flowing  in  and  never  stopping,  fills  the  mind  with 
slavish  fears  and  follies,  as  now  in  Alexander's  case.  But 
upon  some  answers  which  were  brought  him  from  the  ora- 
cle concerning  Hephsestion,  he  laid  aside  his  sorrow,  and 
fell  again  to  sacrificing  and  drinking;  and  having  given 
Nearchus  a  splendid  entertainment,  after  he  had  bathed, 
as  was  his  custom,  just  as  he  was  going  to  bed,  at  Medius' 
request  he  went  to  supper  with  him.  Here  he  drank  all 
the  next  day,  and  being  attacked  with  a  fever,  it  is  reported 
that  in  the  rage  of  the  disease,  he  took  a  draught  of  wine, 
upon  which  he  fell  into  delirium,  and  died. 


INTRODUCTION   TO   CORIOLANUS. 

About  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
we  find  in  the  country  of  the  Latins,  nearly  in  the 
middle  of  Italy,  a  thriving  city  named  Rome.  The  Latins 
were  a  community  of  peasants,  —  shepherds  and  husband- 
men,—  and  the  Romans  too  were  shepherds  and  husband- 
men ;  but  the  peculiar  situation  of  their  city  made  them 
something  more.  It  was  a  group  of  low  hills  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  Tiber,  —  a  healthy  situation  in  an  unhealthy 
region ;  and  this  healthiness  of  situation  gave  it  an  advan- 
tage over  its  rivals.  But  its  chief  point  of  advantage  was 
the  river  on  which  it  was  built.  The  Tiber  is  the  largest 
river  of  Italy  except  the  Po,  in  the  extreme  north,  and  by 
means  of  it  Rome  was  able  to  carry  on  trade  with  the 
countries  in  the  interior  of  Italy,  and  also  with  foreign 
countries.  The  coast  of  Latium  is  flat  and  sandy,  with  no 
good  harbors ;  but  the  Romans  built  a  harbor  called  Ostia 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Tiber,  and  thus  nearly  all  the 
commerce  of  Latium,  both  by  the  river  and  the  sea,  fell 
into  their  hands.  As  a  sign  of  the  importance  of  trade  to 
the  Romans,  they  stamped  on  their  coins  the  figure  of  the 
prow  of  a  ship. 

There  was  another  way  in  which  the  river  Tiber  was  of 
very  great  importance  to  the  Romans.  It  was  the  boun- 
dary between  the  Latins  and  the  Etruscans;  and  the 
Romans,  placed  directly  on  the  boundary,  were  constantly 
called  on  to  fight  against  these  enemies.  This  made  them 
a  warlike  nation.     The  Etruscans  were  at  this  time  the 


118  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

richest  and  most  powerful  people  in  Italy,  and  one  of  their 
chief  cities,  Veii,  was  only  ten  miles  distant  from  Rome. 
There  was  a  hill,  called  Janiculum,  directly  across  the 
river  from  Rome,  and  the  Romans  built  a  fortification  here, 
so  that  they  might  always  be  prepared  for  assaults  on  this 
side. 

Latium,  or  the  country  of  the  Latins,  was  a  tolerably 
level  region,  stretching  about  twenty  miles  in  each  direc- 
tion, between  the  Tiber,  the  mountains,  and  the  sea.  In  the 
centre  of  it  was  the  Alban  Mount,  on  the  top  of  which  the 
Latins  celebrated  their  great  annual  festival.  There  were 
about  a  dozen  independent  cities  of  Latium  which  formed 
a  league  or  confederacy,  of  which  Rome,  the  largest  and 
strongest  city,  was  the  head.  It  was  like  a  company  of 
soldiers,  of  which  Rome  was  the  captain.  And  there  was 
always  enough  fighting  to  do ;  for  besides  the  Etruscans 
on  the  north,  there  were  the  Volscians  in  the  mountains  of 
the  south,  and  the  ^quians  in  those  of  the  east,  always 
ready  to  pounce  upon  the  lands  of  the  industrious  peas- 
ants and  carry  off  cattle  and  other  property. 

The  government  of  Rome  was  a  republic.  It  formerly 
had  kings,  but  they  had  got  rid  of  their  kings,  and  now 
had  two  magistrates,  chosen  every  year,  called  consuls 
(which  means  "  colleagues  ").  The  year  in  which  they  ex- 
pelled the  kings  and  set  up  a  republic  is  said  to  have  been 
B.C.  509 ;  but  in  events  that  happened  so  long  ago,  when 
there  were  no  books,  or  newspapers,  or  regular  records,  we 
cannot  be  certain  either  of  the  date  or  exactly  what  hap- 
pened. It  is  said  that  the  last  king,  whose  name  was  Tar- 
quin,  was  very  proud  and  tyrannical,  and  for  this  reason 
he  was  called  Tarquin  the  Proud ;  and  after  he  was  ban- 
ished, his  friends  and  supporters  for  several  years  made 


CORIOLANUS.  119 

efforts  to  force  the  Romans  to  receive  him  back  as  their 
king. 

Rome  was  now  a  republic,  but  a  very  aristocratic  repub- 
lic. All  the  citizens  had,  it  is  true,  a  right  to  vote  in  the 
election  of  magistrates,  as  well  as  in  making  laws ;  but  the 
rules  of  voting  were  such  that  the  rich  citizens  had  much 
more  power  than  the  poor,  and  the  consuls  must  be  mem- 
bers of  certain  noble  families,  called  patricians.  The  rest 
of  the  citizens  were  called  plebeians^  and  there  were  some 
rich  plebeians ;  but  as  the  patricians  were  nearly  all  rich, 
they  of  course  controlled  the  elections.  Some  of  the  rich 
plebeians  were  appointed  by  the  consuls  as  members  of 
their  council,  the  Senate;  but  even  here  they  had  less 
power  than  the  patrician  senators,  and  they  could  not  be 
elected  to  the  consulship.  This  caused  great  dissatisfac- 
tion among  the  plebeians,  and  for  about  a  hundred  years 
they  were  constantly  striving  to  obtain  the  right  to  be 
elected  consul. 

There  were  two  other  things  that  caused  dissatisfaction 
among  the  poor  plebeians,  —  the  management  of  the  public 
land  and  the  treatment  of  persons  in  debt.  There  was  a 
considerable  amount  of  land  which  belonged  to  the  city, 
and  which  should  have  been  used  for  the  benefit  of  all  the 
citizens.  But  the  consuls  had  the  management  of  it,  and 
left  it  to  be  occupied  by  whoever  cared  to  take  it ;  and  the 
rich  men  got  it  all  into  their  hands,  and  neglected  to  pay 
the  rent  that  was  due,  so  that  they  came  at  last  to  treat 
the  land  as  if  it  belonged  to  them.  A  distinguished  patri- 
cian, named  Spurius  Cassius,  tried  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
abuse,  and  have  the  public  land  divided  up  among  the 
poorer  citizens  ;  but  the  patricians  said  that  he  was  trying 
to  make  himself  king,  and  succeeded  in  having  him  put  to 


120  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

death  as  a  traitor.  A  law  to  give  portions  of  the  public 
land  to  actual  settlers  was  called  an  agrarian  law,  and 
there  were  afterwards  a  great  many  agrarian  laws  in  Rome. 

The  laws  about  debt  were  very  harsh  and  unjust ;  for 
when  a  person  could  not  pay  his  debts,  his  creditors  were 
allowed  to  take  him  and  treat  him  as  a  slave.  It  was  to 
protect  the  poor  plebeians  against  this  abuse  and  other 
abuses  that  a  law  was  passed,  in  the  year  B.C.  494,  allow- 
ing the  plebeians  to  elect  officers  called  tribunes,  whose 
business  it  was  to  protect  any  person,  plebeian  or  patrician, 
against  ill  treatment  by  the  magistrates.  There  were  at 
first  two  tribunes,  but  afterwards  ten,  and  in  order  to 
make  sure  that  they  should  be  able  to  give  protection  to 
those  who  needed  it,  they  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  city 
during  their  term  of  office ;  and  they  were  made  sacred,  as 
it  is  called ;  that  is,  it  was  made  a  serious  crime,  punisha- 
ble by  death,  to  harm  them  or  interfere  with  the  exercise 
of  their  office.  Two  other  officers,  called  cediles,  were 
elected  to  assist  them. 

Many  of  the  patricians  were  very  much  dissatisfied  with 
this  compromise,  and  a  story  is  told  of  a  young  man  named 
Coriolanus,  who  was  the  leader  of  the  dissatisfied  patri- 
cians. It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  story  is  true  in 
its  details.  Very  likely  there  never  was  such  a  person  as 
Coriolanus,  and  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  story  are  very 
improbable.  But  even  if  this  particular  story  is  not  true, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  there  were  just  such  violent  dis- 
sensions among  the  Roman  people,  and  just  such  wars 
with  the  Volscians  and  their  other  neighbors  as  this  story 
describes.  So  that  it  gives  us  a  truthful,  if  not  a  true, 
picture  of  this  period  of  the  Roman  republic. 


CORIOLANUS.  121 


1^- 


CORIOLANUS. 


CAIUS  MARCIUS,  of  whom  I  now  write,  being  left  an 
orphan,  and  brought  up  under  the  widowhood  of  his 
mother,  has  shown  us  by  experience,  that,  although  the  early- 
loss  of  a  father  may  be  attended  with  other  d  isadvantages,  yet 
it  can  hinder  none  from  being  either  virtuous  or  eminent 
in  the  world,  and  that  it  is  no  obstacle  to  true  goodness 
and  excellence ;  however  bad  men  may  be  pleased  to  lay 
the  blame  of  their  corruptions  upon  that  misfortune  and 
the  neglect  of  them  in  their  minority.  Nor  is  he  less  an 
evidence  to  the  truth  of  their  opinion,  who  conceive  that  a 
generous  and  worthy  nature  without  proper  discipline,  like 
a  rich  soil  without  culture,  is  apt,  with  its  better  fruits,  to 
produce  also  much  that  is  bad  and  faulty.  While  the  force 
and  vigor  of  his  soul,  and  a  persevering  constancy  in  all  he 
undertook,  led  him  successfully  into  many  noble  achieve- 
ments, yet,  on  the  other  side,  also,  by  indulging  the  vehe- 
mence of  his  passion,  and  through  an  obstinate  reluctance 
to  yield  or  accommodate  his  humors  and  sentiments  to 
those  of  people  about  him,  he  rendered  himself  incapable 
of  acting  and  associating  with  others.  Those  who  saw 
with  admiration  how  proof  his  nature  was  against  all  the 
softnesses  of  pleasure,  the  hardships  of  service,  and  the 
allurements  of  gain,  while  allowing  to  that  universal  firm- 
ness of  his  the  respective  names  of  temperance,  fortitude, 
and  justice,  yet,  in  the  life  of  the  citizen  and  the  states- 


122  PLUTAKCH^S   LIVES. 

man,  could  not  choose  but  be  disgusted  at  the  severity  and 
ruggedness  of  his  deportment,  and  with  his  overbearing, 
haughty,  and  imperious  temper.  Education  and  study, 
and  the  favors  of  the  muses,  confer  no  greater  benefit  on 
those  that  seek  them,  than  these  humanizing  and  civilizing 
lessons,  which  teach  our  natural  qualities  to  submit  to  the 
limitations  prescribed  by  reason,  and  to  avoid  the  wildness 
of  extremes. 

Those  were  times  at  Rome  in  which  that  kind  of  worth 
was  most  esteemed  which  displayed  itself  in  military 
achievements ;  one  evidence  of  which  we  find  in  the  Latin 
word  for  virtue,  which  is  properly  equivalent  to  manly 
courage.  As  if  valor  and  all  virtue  had  been  the  same 
thing,  they  used  as  the  common  term  the  name  of  the  par- 
ticular excellence.  But  Marcius,  having  a  more  passionate 
inclination  than  any  of  that  age  for  feats  of  war,  began  at 
once,  from  his  very  childhood,  to  handle  arms ;  and  feeling 
that  adventitious  implements  and  artificial  arms  would 
effect  little,  and  be  of  small  use  to  such  as  have  not  their 
native  and  natural  weapons  well  fixed  and  prepared  for 
service,  he  so  exercised  and  inured  his  body  to  all  sorts  of 
activity  and  encounter,  that,  besides  the  lightness  of  a  racer, 
he  had  a  weight  in  close  seizures  and  wrestlings  with  an 
enemy,  from  which  it  was  hard  for  any  to  disengage  him- 
self; so  that  his  competitors  at  home  in  displays  of  bravery, 
loath  to  own  themselves  inferior  in  that  respect,  were  wont 
to  ascribe  their  deficiencies  to  his  strength  of  body,  which 
they  said  no  resistance  and  no  fatigue  could  exhaust. 

The  first  time  he  went  out  to  the  wars,  being  yet  a  strip- 
ling, was  when  Tarquinius  Superbus,  who  had  been  king 
of  Rome  and  was  afterwards  expelled,  after  many  unsuc- 
Adventitious  implements :  such  as  come  accidentally  to  hand. 


CORIOLANUS.  123 

cessful  attempts,  now  entered  upon  his  last  effort,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  hazard  all  as  it  were  upon  a  single  throw.  A 
great  number  of  the  Latins  and  other  people  of  Italy 
joined  their  forces,  and  were  marching  with  him  toward 
the  city,  to  procure  his  restoration ;  not,  however,  so  much 
out  of  a  desire  to  serve  and  oblige  Tarquin,  as  to  gratify 
their  own  fear  and  envy  at  the  increase  of  the  Roman 
greatness,  which  they  were  anxious  to  check  and  reduce. 
The  armies  met  and  engaged  in  a  decisive  battle,  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  which,  Marcius,  while  fighting  bravely  in 
the  dictator's  presence,  saw  a  Roman  soldier  struck  down 
at  a  little  distance,  and  immediately  stepped  in  and  stood 
before  him,  and  slew  his  assailant.  The  general,  after 
having  gained  the  victory,  crowned  him  for  this  act,  one 
of  the  first,  with  a  garland  of  oaken  branches ;  it  being 
the  Roman  custom  thus  to  adorn  those  who  had  saved  the 
life  of  a  citizen ;  whether  that  the  law  intended  some  spe- 
cial honor  to  the  oak,  in  memory  of  the  Arcadians,  a  peo- 
ple the  oracle  had  made  famous  by  the  name  of  acorn-eaters ; 
or  whether  the  reason  of  it  was  because  they  might  easily, 
and  in  all  places  where  they  fought,  have  plenty  of  oak  for 
that  purpose ;  or,  finally,  whether  the  oaken  wreath,  being 
sacred  to  Jupiter,  the  guardian  of  the  city,  might,  there- 
fore, be  thought  a  proper  ornament  for  one  who  preserved 
a  citizen.  And  the  oak,  in  truth,  is  the  tree  which  bears 
the  most  and  the  prettiest  fruit  of  any  that  grows  wild,  and 
is  the  strongest  of  all  that  are  under  cultivation :  its  acorns 
were  the  principal  diet  of  the  first  mortals,  and  the  honey 
found  in  it  gave  them  drink.  I  may  say,  too,  it  furnished 
fowl  and  other  creatures  as  dainties,  in  producing  mistletoe 

Dictator  :  one  having  absolute  power. 

Mistletoe  :  a  parasitic  plant  which  grows  on  the  oak. 


f 


124  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

for  birdlime  to  ensnare  them.  In  this  battle,  meantime, 
it  is  stated  that  Castor  and  Pollux  appeared,  and,  immedi- 
ately after  the  battle,  were  seen  at  Rome  just  by  the 
fountain  where  their  temple  now  stands,  with  their  horses 
foaming  with  sweat,  and  told  the  news  of  the  victory  to 
the  people  in  the  Forum.  The  fifteenth  of  July,  being  the 
day  of  this  conquest,  became  consequently  a  solemn  holi- 
day sacred  to  the  Twin  Brothers. 

It  may  be  observed,  in  general,  that  when  young  men 
arrive  early  at  fame  and  repute,  if  they  are  of  a  nature 
but  slightly  touched  with  emulation,  this  early  attainment 
is  apt  to  extinguish  their  thirst  and  satiate  their  small 
appetite ;  whereas  the  first  distinctions  of  more  solid  and 
weighty  characters  do  but  stimulate  and  quicken  them 
and  take  them  away,  like  a  wind,  in  the  pursuit  of  honor ; 
they  look  upon  these  marks  and  testimonies  to  their  virtue 
not  as  a  recompense  received  for  what  they  have  already 
done,  but  as  a  pledge  given  by  themselves  of  w^hat  they 
will  perform  hereafter,  ashamed  now  to  forsake  or  under- 
live  the  credit  they  have  won,  or,  rather,  not  to  exceed  and 
obscure  all  that  is  gone  before  by  the  lustre  of  their  fol- 
lowing actions.  Marcius,  having  a  spirit  of  this  noble 
make,  was  ambitious  always  to  surpass  himself,  and  did 
nothing,  how  extraordinary  soever,  but  he  thought  he  was 

Birdlime  :  a  sticky  substance  used  to  catch  birds. 

Castor  and  PoUux,  according  to  Homer,  were  the  sons  of  the  Lacedaemonian 
king  Tyndareus,  and  hence  were  often  called  Tyndaridse.  They  are  also 
known  as  the  Dioscuri.  The  two  brothers  were  deified  on  account  of  their 
strong  attachment  for  each  other,  and  were  placed  among  the  stars  as  Gemini 
(the  twins) .  They  had  power  over  winds  and  waves,  presided  over  public 
games,  and  were  the  patrons  of  bards  and  poets. 

Forum  :  a  large  square  in  Rome  surrounded  by  public  buildings  and  adorned 
with  the  statues  of  noted  men. 


CORIOLANUS.  125 

bound  to  outdo  it  at  the  next  occasion ;  and  ever  desiring 
to  give  continual  fresh  instances  of  his  prowess,  he  added 
one  exploit  to  another,  and  heaped  up  trophies  upon  tro- 
phies, so  as  to  make  it  matter  of  contest  also  among  his 
commanders,  the  later  still  vying  with  the  earlier,  which 
should  pay  him  the  greatest  honor  and  speak  highest  in 
his  commendation.  Of  all  the  numerous  wars  and  con- 
flicts in  those  days,  there  was  not  one  from  which  he  re- 
turned without  laurels  and  rewards.  And,  whereas  others 
made  glory  the  end  of  their  daring,  the  end  of  his  glory 
was  his  mother's  gladness;  the  delight  she  took  to  hear 
him  praised  and  to  see  him  crowned,  and  her  weeping  for 
joy  in  his  embraces,  rendered  him,  in  his  own  thoughts, 
the  most  honored  and  the  most  happy  person  in  the  world. 
Epaminondas  is  similarly  said  to  have  acknowledged  his 
feeling,  that  it  was  the  greatest  felicity  of  his  whole  life 
that  his  father  and  mother  survived  to  hear  of  his  suc- 
cessful generalship  and  his  victory  at  Leuctra.  And  he 
had  the  advantage,  indeed,  to  have  both  his  parents  par- 
take with  him,  and  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  his  good  fortune. 
But  Marcius,  believing  himself  bound  to  pay  his  mother 
Volumnia  all  that  gratitude  and  duty  which  would  have 
belonged  to  his  father,  had  he  also  been  alive,  could  never 
satiate  himself  in  his  tenderness  and  respect  to  her.  He 
took  a  wife,  also,  at  her  request  and  wish,  and  continued, 
even  after  he  had  children,  to  live  still  with  his  mother, 
without  parting  families. 

The  repute  of  his  integrity  and  courage  had,  by  this 
time,  gained  him  a  considerable  influence  and  authority 
in  Rome,  when  the  senate,  favoring  the  wealthier  citizens, 
began  to  be  at  variance  with  the  common  people,  who 
made  sad  complaints  of  the  rigorous  and  inhuman  usage 


126  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

they  received  from  the  money-lenders.  For  as  many  as 
were  behind  with  them,  and  had  any  sort  of  property, 
they  stripped  of  all  they  had,  by  the  way  of  pledges  and 
sales ;  and  such  as  through  former  exactions  were  reduced 
already  to  extreme  indigence,  and  had  nothing  more  to 
be  deprived  of,  these  they  led  away  in  person  and  put  their 
bodies  under  constraint,  notwithstanding  the  scars  and 
wounds  that  they  could  show  in  attestation  of  their  public 
services  in  numerous  campaigns;  the  last  of  which  had 
been  against  the  Sabines,  which  they  undertook  upon  a 
promise  made  by  their  rich  creditors  that  they  would  treat 
them  with  more  gentleness  for  the  future,  Marcus  Vale- 
rius, the  consul,  having,  by  order  from  the  senate,  engaged 
also  for  the  performance  of  it.  But  when,  after  they  had 
fought  courageously  and  beaten  the  enemy,  there  was, 
nevertheless,  no  moderation  or  forbearance  used,  and  the 
senate  also  professed  to  remember  nothing  of  that  agree- 
ment, and  sat  without  testifying  the  least  concern  to  see 
them  dragged  away  like  slaves  and  their  goods  seized 
upon  as  formerly,  there  began  now  to  be  open  disorders 
and  dangerous  meetings  in  the  city ;  and  the  enemy,  also, 
aware  of  the  popular  confusion,  invaded  and  laid  waste 
the  country.  And  when  the  consuls  now  gave  notice,  that 
all  who  were  of  an  age  to  bear  arms  should  make  their  per- 
sonal appearance,  l)ut  found  no  one  regard  the  summons, 
the  members  of  the  government,  then  coming  to  consult 
what  course  should  be  taken,  were  themselves  again  divided 
in  opinion;  some  thought  it  most  advisable  to  comply  a 
little  in  favor  of  the  poor,  by  relaxing  their  overstrained 
rights,  and  mitigating  the  extreme  rigor  of  the  law,  while 
others  withstood  this  proposal;  Marcius  in  particular,  with 

Consuls  :  the  two  chief  magistrates  of  the  Roman  republic. 


CORIOLANUS.  127 

more  vehemence  than  the  rest,  alleging  that  the  business 
of  money  on  either  side  was  not  the  main  thing  in  ques- 
tion, urged  that  this  disorderly  proceeding  was  but  the 
first  insolent  step  towards  open  revolt  against  the  laws, 
which  it  would  become  the  wisdom  of  the  government  to 
check  at  the  earliest  moment. 

There  had  been  frequent  assemblies  of  the  whole  senate, 
within  a  small  compass  of  time,  about  this  difficulty,  but 
without  any  certain  issue;  the  poor  commonalty, therefore, 
perceiving  there  was  likely  to  be  no  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances, on  a  sudden  collected  in  a  body,  and,  encouraging  each 
other  in  their  resolution,  forsook  the  city  with  one  accord, 
and  seizing  the  hill  which  is  now  called  the  Holy  Mount, 
sat  down  by  the  river  Anio,  without  committing  any  sort 
of  violence  or  seditious  outrage,  but  merely  exclaiming  as 
they  went  along,  that  they  had  this  long  time  past  been,  in 
fact,  expelled  and  excluded  from  the  city  by  the  cruelty 
of  the  rich ;  that  Italy  would  everywhere  afford  them  the 
benefit  of  air  and  water  and  a  place  of  burial,  which  was 
all  they  could  expect  in  the  city,  unless  it  were,  perhaps, 
the  privilege  of  being  wounded  and  killed  in  time  of  war 
for  the  defence  of  their  creditors.  The  senate,  apprehend- 
ing the  consequences,  sent  the  most  moderate  and  popular 
men  of  their  own  order  to  treat  with  them. 

Menenius  Agrippa,  their  chief  spokesman,  after  much 
entreaty  to  the  people,  and  much  plain  speaking  on  behalf 
of  the  senate,  concluded  at  length  with  the  celebrated  fable. 
"  It  once  happened,"  he  said,  "  that  all  the  other  members 
of  a  man  mutinied  against  the  stomach,  which  they  accused 
as  the  only  idle,  un contributing  part  in  the  whole  body, 
while  the  rest  were  put  to  hardships  and  the  expense  of 
Seditious  :  of  a  treasonable  character. 


128  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

much  labor  to  supply  and  minister  to  its  appetites.  The 
:stomach,  however,  merely  ridiculed  the  silliness  of  the 
members,  who  appeared  not  to  be  aware  that  the  stomach 
certainly  does  receive  the  general  nourishment,  but  only 
to  return  it  again,  and  redistribute  it  amongst  the  rest. 
Such  is  the  case,"  he  said,  "ye  citizens,  between  you  and  the 
senate.  The  counsels  and  plans  that  are  there  duly  digested, 
convey  and  secure  to  all  of  you  your  proper  benefit  and 
support." 

A  reconciliation  ensued,  the  senate  acceding  to  the 
request  of  the  people  for  the  annual  election  of  five  pro- 
tectors for  those  in  need  of  succor,  the  same  that  are  now 
called  the  tribunes  of  the  people ;  and  the  first  two  they 
pitched  upon  were  Junius  Brutus  and  Sicinnius  Vellutus, 
their  leaders  in  the  secession. 

The  city  being  thus  united,  the  commons  stood  presently 
to  their  arms,  and  followed  their  commanders  to  the  war 
with  great  alacrity.  As  for  Marcius,  though  he  was  not 
a  little  vexed  himself  to  see  the  populace  prevail  so  far, 
and  gain  ground  of  the  senators,  and  might  observe  many 
other  patricians  have  the  same  dislike  of  the  late  conces- 
sions, he  yet  besought  them  not  to  yield  at  least  to  the 
common  people  in  the  zeal  and  forwardness  they  now 
showed  for  their  country's  service,  but  to  prove  that  they 
were  superior  to  them,  not  so  much  in  power  and  riches, 
as  in  merit  and  worth.  ^S)^jygwy>*>^^      '  ^ — ^ 

The  Romans  were  now  at  war  with  the^VoIscian  nation, 
whose  principal  city  was  Corioli ;  when,  therefore,  Comin- 
iiis,  the  consul,  had  invested  this  important  place,  the  rest 
of  the  Volscians,  fearing  it  would  be  taken,  mustered  up 
whatever  force  they  could  from  all  parts,  to  relieve  it,  de- 

Fatriciaus ;  noblemen. 


CORIOLANUS.  129 

signing  to  give  the  Eomans  battle  before  the  city,  and  so 
attack  them  on  both  sides.  Cominius,  to  avoid  this  incon- 
venience, divided  his  army,  marching  himself  with  one 
body  to  encounter  the  Volscians  on  their  approach  from 
without,  and  leaving  Titus  Lartius,  one  of  the  bravest 
Romans  of  his  time,  to  command  the  other  and  continue 
the  siege.  Those  within  Corioli,  despising  now  the  small- 
ness  of  their  number,  made  a  sally  upon  them,  and  prevailed 
at  firsthand  pursued  the  Romans  into  their  trenches.  Here 
it  was  that  Marcius,  flying  out  with  a  slender  company, 
and  cutting  those  in  pieces  that  first  engaged  him,  obliged 
the  other  assailants  to  slacken  their  speed;  and  then,  with 
loud  cries,  called  upon  the  Romans  to  renew  the  battle. 
For  he  had,  what  Cato  thought  a  great  point  in  a  soldier, 
not  only  strength  of  hand  and  stroke,  but  also  a  voice 
and  look  that  of  themselves  were  a  terror  to  an  enemy. 
Divers  of  his  own  party  now  rallying  and  making  up  to 
him,  the  enemies  soon  retreated;  but  Marcius,  not  content 
to  see  them  draw  off  and  retire,  pressed  hard  upon  the  rear, 
and  drove  them,  as  they  fled  away  in  haste,  to  the  very 
gates  of  their  city ;  where,  perceiving  the  Romans  to  fall 
back  from  their  pursuit,  beaten  off  by  the  multitude  of 
darts  poured  in  upon  them  from  the  walls,  and  that  none 
of  his  followers  had  the  hardiness  to  think  of  falling  in 
pellmell  among  the  fugitives  and  so  entering  a  city  full  of 
enemies  iii  arms,  he,  nevertheless,  stood  and  urged  them 
to  the  attempt,  crying  out,  that  fortune  had  now  set  open 
Corioli,  not  so  much  to  shelter  the  vanquished,  as  to  re- 
ceive the  conquerors.  Seconded  by  a  few  that  were  willing 
to  venture  with  him,  he  bore  along  through  the  crowd, 
made  good  his  passage,  and  thrust  himself  into  the  gate 
through  the  midst  of  them,  nobody  at  first  daring  to  resist 


130  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

him.  But  when  the  citizens,  ^on  looking  about,  saw  that  a 
very  small  number  had  entered,  they  now  took  courage, 
and  came  up  and  attacked  them.  A  combat  ensued  of  the 
most  extraordinary  description,  in  which  Marcius,  by 
strength  of  hand,  and  swiftness  of  foot,  and  daring  of  soul, 
overpowering  every  one  that  he  assailed,  succeeded  in  driv- 
ing the  enemy  to  seek  refuge,  for  the  most  part,  in  the 
interior  of  the  town,  while  the  remainder  submitted,  and 
threw  down  their  arms ;  thus  affording  Lartius  abundant 
opportunity  to  bring  in  the  rest  of  the  Romans  with  ease 
and  safety. 

Corioli  being  thus  surprised  and  taken,  the  greater  part 
of  the  soldiers  employed  themselves  in  spoiling  and  pillag- 
ing it,  while  Marcius  indignantly  reproached  them,  and 
exclaimed  that  it  was  a  dishonorable  and  unworthy  thing, 
when  the  consul  and  their  fellow-citizens  had  now  perhaps 
encountered  the  other  Volscians,  and  were  hazarding  their 
lives  in  battle,  basely  to  misspend  the  time  in  running  up 
and  down  for  booty,  and,  under  a  pretence  of  enriching 
themselves,  keep  out  of  danger.  Few  paid  him  any  atten- 
tion, but,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  these,  he  took  the 
road  by  which  the  consul's  army  had  marched  before  him, 
encouraging  his  companions,  and  beseeching  them,  as  they 
went  along,  not  to  give  up,  and  praying  often  to  the  gods, 
too,  that  he  might  be  so  happy  as  to  arrive  before  the  fight 
was  over,  and  come  seasonably  up  to  assist  Cominius,  and 
partake  in  the  peril  of  the  action. 

It  was  customary  with  the  Romans  of  that  age,  when 
they  were  moving  into  battle  array,  and  were  on  the  point 
of  taking  up  their  bucklers,  and  girding  their  coats  about 
them,  to  make  at  the  same  time  an  unwritten  will,  or  ver- 
bal testament,  and  to  name  who  should  be  their  heirs,  in 


CORIOLANUS.  131 

the  hearing  of  three  or  four  witnesses.  In  this  precise 
posture  Marcius  found  them  at  his  arrival,  the  enemy 
being  advanced  within  view. 

They  were  not  a  little  disturbed  by  his  first  appearance, 
seeing  him  covered  with  blood  and  sweat,  and  attended 
with  a  small  train ;  but  when  he  hastily  made  up  to  the 
consul  with  gladness  in  his  looks,  giving  him  his  hand, 
and  recounting  to  him  how  the  city  had  been  taken,  and 
when  they  saw  Cominius  also  embrace  and  salute  him, 
every  one  took  fresh  heart;  those  that  were  near  enough 
hearing,  and  those  that  were  at  a  distance  guessing,  what 
had  happened;  and  all  cried  out  to  be  led  to  battle. 
First,  however,  Marcius  desired  to  know  of  him  how  the 
Volscians  had  arrayed  their  army,  and  where  they  had 
placed  their  best  men,  and  on  his  answering  that  he  took 
the  troops  of  the  Antiates  in  the  centre  to  be  their  prime 
warriors,  that  would  yield  to  none  in  bravery,  "  Let  me 
then  demand  and  obtain  of  you,"  said  Marcius,  "that  we 
may  be  posted  against  them."  The  consul  granted  the 
request,  with  much  admiration  of  his  gallantry.  And 
when  the  conflict  began  by  the  soldiers  darting  at  each 
other,  and  Marcius  sallied  out  before  the  rest,  the  Vol- 
scians opposed  to  him  were  not  able  to  make  head  against 
him ;  wherever  he  fell  in,  he  broke  their  ranks,  and  made 
a  lane  through  them ;  but  the  parties  turning  again,  and 
enclosing  him  on  each  side  with  their  weapons,  the  consul, 
who  observed  the  danger  he  was  in,  despatched  some  of 
the  choicest  men  he  had  for  his  rescue.  The  conflict  then 
growing  warm  and  sharp  about  Marcius,  and  many  falling 
dead  in  a  little  space,  the  Romans  bore  so  hard  upon  the 
enemies,  and  pressed  them  with  such  violence,  that  they 
forced  them  at  length  to  abandon  their  ground,  and  to 


132  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

quit  the  field.  And,  going  now  to  prosecute  the  victory, 
they  besought  Marcius,  tired  out  with  his  toils,  and  faint 
.  and  heavy  through  the  loss  of  blood,  that  he  would  retire 
to  the  camp.  He  replied,  however,  that  weariness  was  not 
for  conquerors,  and  joined  with  them  in  the  pursuit.  The 
rest  of  the  Volscian  army  was  in  like  manner  defeated, 
great  numbers  killed,  and  no  less  taken  captive. 

The  day  after,  when  Marcius,  with  the  rest  of  the  army, 
presented  themselves  at  the  consul's  tent,  Cominius  rose, 
and  having  rendered  all  due  acknowledgment  to  the  gods 
for  the  success  of  that  enterprise,  turned  next  to  Marcius, 
and  first  of  all  delivered  the  strongest  encomium  upon  his 
rare  exploits,  which  he  had  partly  been  an  eye-witness  of 
himself,  in  the  late  battle,  and  had  partly  learned  from  the 
testimony  of  Lartius.  And  then  he  required  him  to 
choose  a  tenth  part  of  all  the  treasure  and  horses  and  cap- 
tives that  had  fallen  into  their  hands,  before  any  division 
should  be  made  to  others;  besides  which,  he  made  him 
the  special  present  of  a  horse  with  trappings  and  orna- 
ments, in  honor  of  his  actions.  The  whole  army  ap- 
plauded ;  Marcius,  however,  stepped  forth,  and  declaring 
his  thankful  acceptance  of  the  horse,  and  his  gratification 
at  the  praises  of  his  general,  said,  that  all  other  things, 
which  he  could  only  regard  rather  as  mercenary  advan- 
tages than  any  significations  of  honor,  he  must  waive,  and 
should  be  content  with  the  ordinary  proportion  of  such 
rewards.  "  I  have  only,"  said  he,  "  one  special  grace  to 
beg,  and  this  I  hope  you  will  not  deny  me.  There  was  a 
certain  hospitable  friend  of  mine  among  the  Volscians, 
a  man  of  probity  and  virtue,  who  is  become  a  prisoner, 
and  from  former  wealth  and  freedom  is  now  reduced  to 
servitude.     Among  his  many  misfortunes  let  my  interces- 


GORIOLANUS.  133 

sion  redeem  him  from  the  one  of  being  sold  as  a  common 
slave."  Such  a  refusal  and  such  a  request  on  the  part  of 
Marcius  were  followed  with  yet  louder  acclamations;  and 
he  had  many  more  admirers  of  this  generous  superiority 
to  avarice,  than  of  the  bravery  he  had  shown  in  battle. 
The  very  persons  who  conceived  some  envy  and  despite 
to  see  him  so  specially  honored,  could  not  but  acknowl- 
edge, that  one  who  so  nobly  could  refuse  reward,  was  be- 
yond others  worthy  to  receive  it ;  and  were  more  charmed 
with  that  virtue  which  made  him  despise  advantage,  than 
with  any  of  those  former  actions  that  had  gained  him  his 
title  to  it.  It  is  the  higher  accomplishment  to  use  money 
well  than  to  use  arms ;  but  not  to  need  it  is  more  noble 
than  to  use  it. 

When  the  noise  of  approbation  and  applause  ceased, 
Cominius,  resuming,  said,  "It  is  idle,  fellow-soldiers,  to 
force  and  obtrude  those  other  gifts  of  ours  on  one  who  is 
unwilling  to  accept  them ;  let  us,  therefore,  give  him  one 
of  such  a  kind  that  he  cannot  well  reject  it ;  let  us  pass  a 
vote,  I  mean,  that  he  shall  hereafter  be  called  Coriolanus, 
unless  you  think  that  his  performance  at  Corioli  has  itself 
anticipated  any  such  resolution."  Hence,  therefore,  he 
had  his  third  name  of  Coriolanus,  making  it  all  the  plainer 
that  Caius  was  a  personal  proper  name,  and  the  second,  or 
surname,  Marcius,  one  common  to  his  house  and  family ; 
the  third  being  a  subsequent  addition  which  used  to  be 
imposed  either  from  some  particular  act  or  fortune,  bodily 
characteristic,  or  good  quality  of  the  bearer. 

The  war  against  the  Volscians  was  no  sooner  at  an  end, 
than  the  popular  orators  revived  domestic  troubles,  and 
raised  another  sedition,  without  any  new  cause  of  com- 
plaint or  just  grievance  to  proceed  upon,  but  merely  turn- 


134  PLUTATCH'S  LIVES. 

ing  the  very  mischiefs  that  unavoidably  ensued  from  their 
former  contests  into  a  pretext  against  the  patricians.  The 
greatest  part  of  their  arable  land  had  been  left  unsown 
and  without  tillage,  and  the  time  of  war  allowing  them  no 
means  or  leisure  to  import  provision  from  other  countries, 
there  was  an  extreme  scarcity.  The  movers  of  the  people 
then  observing,  that  there  was  no  corn  to  be  bought,  and 
that,  if  there  had  been,  they  had  no  money  to  buy  it,  began 
to  calumniate  the  wealthy  with  false  stories,  and  whis- 
per it  about,  as  if  they,  out  of  malice,  had  purposely  con- 
trived the  famine.  Meanwhile,  there  came  an  embassy 
from  the  Velitrani,  proposing  to  deliver  up  their  city  to 
the  Romans,  and  desiring  they  would  send  some  new  in- 
habitants to  people  it,  as  a  late  pestilential  disease  had 
swept  away  so  many  of  the  natives,  that  there  was  hardly 
a  tenth  part  remaining  of  their  whole  community.  This 
necessity  of  the  Velitrani  was  considered  by  all  more  pru- 
dent people  as  most  opportune  in  the  present  state  of 
affairs ;  since  the  dearth  made  it  needful  to  ease  the  city 
of  its  superfluous  members,  and  they  were  in  hope  also, 
at  the  same  time,  to  dissipate  the  gathering  sedition  by 
ridding  themselves  of  the  more  violent  and  heated  parti- 
sans, and  discharging,  so  to  say,  the  elements  of  disease 
and  disorder  in  the  state.  The  consuls,  therefore,  singled 
out  such  citizens  to  supply  the  desolation  at  Velitrse,  and 
gave  notice  to  others,  that  they  should  be  ready  to  march 
against  the  Volscians,  with  the  politic  design  of  prevent- 
ing intestine  broils  by  employment  abroad,  and  in  the  hope, 
that  when  rich  as  well  as  poor,  plebeians  and  patricians, 
should  be  mingled  again  in  the  same  army  and  the  same 

Arable:  land  which  can  be  cultivated.      Corn  :  any  grain  used  for  bread. 
Plebeians :  the  common  people.    For  a  long  time  they  had  no  political 
power. 


CORIOLANUS.  135 

camp,  and  engage  in  one  common  service  for  the  public, 
it  would  mutually  dispose  them  to  reconciliation  and 
friendship. 

But  Sicinnius  and  Brutus,  the  popular  orators,  inter- 
posed, crying  out,  that  the  consuls  disguised  the  most  cruel 
and  barbarous  action  in  the  world  under  that  mild  and 
plausible  name  of  a  colony,  and  were  simply  precipitating 
so  many  poor  citizens  into  a  mere  pit  of  destruction,  bid- 
ding them  settle  down  in  a  country  where  the  air  was 
charged  with  disease,  and  the  ground  covered,  with  dead 
bodies,  and  expose  themselves  to  the  evil  influence  of  a 
strange  and  angered  deity.  And  then,  as  if  it  would  not 
satisfy  their  hatred  to  destroy  some  by  hunger,  and  offer 
others  to  the  mercy  of  a  plague,  they  must  proceed  to  in- 
volve them  also  in  a  needless  war  of  their  own  making,  that 
no  calamity  might  be  wanting  to  complete  the  punishment 
of  the  citizens  for  refusing  to  submit  to  that  of  slavery  to 
the  rich. 

By  such  addresses,  the  people  were  so  possessed,  that 
none  of  them  would  appear  upon  the  consular  summons 
to  be  enlisted  for  the  war ;  and  they  showed  entire  aver- 
sion to  the  proposal  for  a  new  plantation ;  so  that  the  sen- 
ate was  at  a  loss  what  to  say  or  do.  But  Marcius,  who 
began  now  to  bear  himself  higher  and  to  feel  confidence 
in  his  past  actions,  conscious,  too,  of  the  admiration  of  the 
best  and  greatest  men  of  Rome,  openly  took  the  lead  in 
opposing  the  favorers  of  the  people.  The  colony  was  de- 
spatched to  Velitrse,  those  that  were  chosen  by  lot  being 
compelled  to  depart  upon  high  penalties ;  and  when  they 
obstinately  persisted  in  refusing  to  enroll  themselves  for 
the  Volscian  service,  he  mustered  up  his  own  clients,^  and 

1  The  clients  were  dependents  upon  the  patrician  families,  and  were  in  a 
condition  somewliat  similar  to  serfdom. 


136  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

as  many  others  as  could  be  wrought  upon  by  persuasion, 
and  with  these  made  an  inroad  into  the  territories  of  the 
Antiates,  where  finding  a  considerable  quantity  of  corn, 
and  collecting  much  booty,  both  of  cattle  and  prisoners, 
he  reserved  nothing  for  himself  in  private,  but  returned 
safe  to  Rome,  while  those  that  ventured  out  with  him  were 
seen  laden  with  pillage,  and  driving  their  prey  before  them. 
This  sight  filled  those  that  had  stayed  at  home  with  regret 
for  their  perverseness  with  envy  at  their  fortunate  fellow- 
citizens,  and  with  feelings  of  dislike  to  Marcius,  and  hos- 
tility to  his  growing  reputation  and  power,  which  might 
probably  be  used  against  the  popular  interest. 

Not  long  after  he  stood  for  the  consulship ;  when,  how- 
ever, the  people  began  to  relent  and  incline  to  favor  him, 
being  sensible  what  a  shame  it  would  be  to  repulse  and 
affront  a  man  of  his  birth  and  merit,  after  he  had  done 
them  so  many  signal  services.  It  was  usual  for  those  who 
stood  for  offices  among  them  to  solicit  and  address  them- 
selves personally  to  the  citizens,  presenting  themselves  in 
the  forum  with  the  toga  ^  on  alone,  and  no  tunic  under  it; 
either  to  promote  their  supplications  by  the  humility  of 
their  dress,  or  that  such  as  had  received  wounds  might 
more  readily  display  those  marks  of  their  fortitude.  Cer- 
tainly, it  was  not  out  of  suspicion  of  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion that  they  required  all  such  petitioners  for  their  favor 
to  appear  ungirt  and  open,  without  any  close  garment ;  as 
it  was  much  later,  and  many  ages  after  this,  that  buying 
and  selling  crept  in  at  their  elections,  and  money  became 
an  ingredient  in  the  public  suffrages ;  proceeding  thence 
to  attempt  their  tribunals,  and  even  attack  their  camps, 

1  The  toga  was  a  garment  something  like  a  shawl ;  the  tunic  was  a  frock 
reachinsr  about  to  the  knees. 


CORIOLANUS.  137 

till,  by  hiring  the  valiant,  and  enslaving  iron  to  silver,  ilf 
grew  master  of  the  state,  and  turned  their  commonwealth 
into  a  monarchy.  For  it  was  well  and  truly  said  that  tha 
first  destroyer  of  the  liberties  of  a  people  is  he  who  firc>t 
gave  them  bounties  and  largesses.  At  Rome  the  mischief 
seems  to  have  stolen  secretly  in,  and  by  little  and  little, 
not  being  at  once  discerned  and  taken  notice  of.  It  is  not 
certainly  known  who  the  man  was  that  did  there  first  either 
bribe  the  citizens,  or  corrupt  the  courts ;  whereas,  in  Athens, 
Anytus,  the  son  of  Anthemion,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  that  gave  money  to  the  judges,  when  on  his  trial, 

..toward  the  latter  end  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  for  letting 
the  fort  of  Pylos  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  in  a 
period  while  the  pure  and  golden  race  of  men  were  still 
in  possession  of  the  Roman  forum. 

Marcius,  therefore,  as  the  fashion  of  candidates  was,  i 
showing  the  scars  and  gashes  that  were  still  visible  on  liis 
body,  from  the  many  conflicts  in  which  he  had  signalized 
himself  during  a  service  of  seventeen  years  together,  they 
were,  so  to  say,  put  out  of  countenance  at  this  display  of 
merit,  and  told  one  another  that  they  ought  in  common 
modesty  to  create  him  consul.  But  when  the  day  of  elec- 
tion was  now  come,  and  Marcius  appeared  in  the  forum, 
with  a  pompous  train  of  senators  attending  him,  and  the 
partricians  all  manifested  greater  concern,  and  seemed  to 
be  exerting  greater  efforts,  than  they  had  ever  done  before 
on  the  like  occasion,  the  commons  then  fell  off  again  from 

'  the  kindness  they  had  conceived  for  him,  and  in  the  place 
of  their  late  benevolence,  began  to  feel  something  of  indig- 
nation and  envy ;  passions  assisted  by  the  fear  they  enter- 
Candidates  for  office  were  distinguished  by  having  their  togas  whitened 
with  chalk,  whence  the  name  "candidate"  (from  candidus,  white). 


138  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

tained,  that  if  a  man  of  such  aristocratic  temper,  and  so 
influential  among  the  patricians,  should  be  invested  with 
the  power  which  that  office  would  give  him,  he  might 
employ  it  to  deprive  the  people  of  all  that  liberty  which 
was  yet  left  them.  In  conclusion,  they  rejected  Marcius. 
Two  other  names  were  announced,  to  the  great  mortifica- 
tion of  the  senators,  who  felt  as  if  the  indignity  reflected 
rather  upon  themselves  than  on  Marcius.  He,  for  his  part, 
could  not  bear  the  affront  with  any  patience.  He  had 
always  indulged  his  temper,  and  had  regarded  the  proud 
and  contentious  element  of  human  nature  as  a  sort  of 
nobleness  and  magnanimity ;  reason  and  discipline  had  not 
imbued  him  with  that  solidity  and  equanimity  which  en- 
ters so  largely  into  the  virtues  of  the  statesman.  He  had 
never  learned  how  essential  it  is  for  any  one  who  under- 
takes public  business,  and  desires  to  deal  with  mankind, 
to  avoid  above  all  things  that  self-will,  which,  as  Plato 
says,  belongs  to  the  family  of  solitude ;  and  to  pursue, 
above  all  things,  that  capacity  so  generally  ridiculed,  of 
submission  to  ill-treatment.  Marcius,  straightforward  and 
direct,  and  possessed  with  the  idea  that  to  vanquish  and 
overbear  all  opposition  is  the  true  part  of  bravery,  and 
never  imagining  that  it  was  the  weakness  and  womanish- 
ness  of  his  nature  that  broke  out,  so  to  say,  in  these  ulcer- 
ations of  anger,  retired,  full  of  fury  and  bitterness  against 
the  people.  The  young  patricians,  too,  all  that  were  proud- 
est and  most  conscious,  of  their  noble  birth,  had  always 
been  devoted  to  his  interest,  and,  adhering  to  him  now,  - 
with  a  fidelity  that  did  him  no  good,  aggravated  his 
resentment  with  the  expression  of  their  indignation  and 
condolence.  He  had  been  their  captain,  and  their  willing 
instructor  in  the  arts  of  war,  when  out  upon  expeditions, 


CORIOLANUS.  139 

and  their  model  in  that  true  emulation  and  love  of  excel- 
lence which  makes  men  extol,  without  envy  or  jealousy, 
each  other's  brave  achievements. 

In  the  midst,  of  these  distempers,  a  large  quantity  of 
corn  reached  Rome,  a  great  part  bought  up  in  Italy,  but 
an  equal  amount  sent  as  a  present  from  Syracuse,  from 
Gelo,  then  reigning  there.  Many  began  now  to  hope  well 
of  their  affairs,  supposing  the  city,  by  this  means,  would  be 
delivered  at  once,  both  of  its  want  and  discord.  A  coun- 
cil, therefore,  being  presently  held,  the  people  came  flock- 
ing about  the  senate-house,  eagerly  awaiting  the  issue  of 
that  deliberation,  expecting  that  the  market-prices  would 
now  be  less  cruel,  and  that  what  had  come  as  a  gift,  would 
be  distributed  as  such.  There  Avere  some  within  who  so 
advised  the  senate;  but  Marcius,  standing  up,  sharply 
inveighed  against  those  who  spoke  in  favor  of  the  multi- 
tude, calling  them  flatterers  of  the  rabble,  traitors  to  the 
nobility,  and  alleging,  that,  by  such  gratifications,  they  did 
but  cherish  those  ill  seeds  of  boldness  and  petulance  that 
had  been  sown  among  the  people,  to  their  own  prejudice, 
which  they  should  have  done  well  to  observe  and  stifle  at 
their  first  appearance,  and  not  have  suffered  the  plebeians 
to  grow  so  strong,  by  granting  them  magistrates  of  such 
authority  as  the  tribunes.  They  were,  indeed,  even  now 
formidable  to  the  state,  since  everything  they  desired  was 
granted  them ;  no  constraint  was  put  on  their  will ;  they 
refused  obedience  to  the  consuls,  and,  overthrowing  all 
law  and  magistracy,  gave  the  title  of  magistrate  to  their 
private  factious  leaders.  "  When  things  are  come  to  such 
a  pass,  for  us  to  sit  here  and  decree  largesses  and  bounties 
for  them,  like  those  Greeks  where  the  populace  is  supreme 
and  absolute,  what  would  it  be  else,"  said  he,  "but  to  take 


140  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

their  disobedience  into  pay,  and  maintain  it  for  the  common 
ruin  of  us  all?  They  certainly  cannot  look  upon  these 
liberalities  as  a  reward  of  public  service,  which  they  know 
they  have  so  often  deserted ;  nor  yet  of  those  secessions, 
by  which  they  openly  renounced  their  country ;  much  less 
of  the  calumnies  and  slanders  they  have  been  always  so 
ready  to  entertain  against  the  senate ;  but  will  rather  con- 
clude that  a  bounty  which  seems  to  have  no  other  visible 
cause  or  reason,  must  needs  be  the  effect  of  our  fear  and 
flattery ;  and  will,  therefore,  set  no  limit  to  their  disobedi- 
ence, nor  ever  cease  from  disturbances  and  sedition.  Con- 
cession is  mere  madness ;  if  we  have  any  wisdom  and 
resolution  at  all,  we  shall,  on  the  contrary,  never  rest  till 
we  have  recovered  from  them  that  tribunician  power  they 
have  extorted  from  us ;  as  being  a  plain  subversion  of  the 
consulship,  and  a  perpetual  ground  of  separation  in  our 
city,  that  is  no  longer  one,  as  heretofore,  but  has  in  this 
received  such  a  wound  and  rupture,  as  is  never  likely  to 
close  and  unite  again,  or  suffer  us  to  be  of  one  mind,  and 
to  give  over  inflaming  our  distempers,  and  being  a  torment 
to  each  other." 

Marcius,  with  much  more  to  this  purpose,  succeeded,  to 
an  extraordinary  degree,  in  inspiring  the  younger  men 
with  the  same  furious  sentiments,  and  had  almost  all  the 
wealthy  on  his  side,  who  cried  him  up  as  the  only  person 
their  city  had,  superior  alike  to  force  and  flattery ;  some 
of  the  older  men,  however,  opposed  him,  suspecting  the 
consequences.  As,  indeed,  there  came  no  good  of  it ;  for  ■ 
the  tribunes,  who  were  present,  perceiving  how  the  pro- 
posal of  Marcius  took,  ran  out  into  the  crowd  with  excla- 
mations, calling  on  the  plebeians  to  stand  together,  and 
come  in  to  their  assistance.     The  assembly  met,  and  soon 


CORIOLANUS.      .  141 

became  tumultuous.  The  sum  of  what  Marcius  had 
spoken,  having  been  reported  to  the  people,  excited  them 
to  such  fury,  that  they  were  ready  to  break  in  upon  the 
senate.  The  tribunes  prevented  this,  by  laying  all  the 
blame  on  Coriolanus,  whom,  therefore,  they  cited  by  their 
messengers  to  come  before  them,  and  defend  himself. 
And  when  he  contemptuously  repulsed  the  officers  who 
brought  him  the  summons,  they  came  themselves,  with 
the  JEdiles,  or  overseers  of  the  market,  proposing  to  carry 
him  away  by  force,  and,  accordingly,  began  to  lay  hold 
on  his  person.  The  patricians,  however,  coming  to  his 
rescue,  not  only  thrust  off  the  tribunes,  but  also  beat  the 
^diles,  that  were  their  seconds  in  the  quarrel;  night, 
approaching,  put  an  end  to  the  contest.  But,  as  soon  as 
it  was  day,  the  consuls,  observing  the  people  to  be  highly 
exasperated,  and  that  they  ran  from  all  quarters  and  gath- 
ered in  the  forum,  were  afraid  for  the  whole  city,  so  that, 
convening  .the  senate  afresh,  they  desired  them  to  advise 
how  they  might  best  compose  and  pacify  the  incensed 
multitude  by  equitable  language  and  indulgent  decrees; 
since,  if  they  wisely  considered  the  state  of  things,  they 
would  find  that  it  was  no  time  to  stand  upon  terms  of 
honor,  and  a  mere  point  of  glory ;  such  a  critical  conjunc- 
ture called  for  gentle  methods,  and  for  temperate  and 
humane  counsels.  The  majority,  therefore,  of  the  senators 
giving  way,  the  consuls  proceeded  to  pacify  the  people  in 
the  best  manner  they  were  able,  answering  gently  to  such 
imputations  and  charges  as  had  been  cast  upon  the  senate, 
and  using  much  tenderness  and  moderation  in  the  admo- 
nitions and  reproofs  they  gave  them.  On  the  point  of 
the  price  of  provisions,  they  said,  there  should  be  no 
difference  at  all  between  them.     When  a  great  part  of 


142  l^LUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

the  commoiialty  was  grown  cool,  and  it  appeared  from 
their  orderly  and  peaceful  behavior  that  they  had  been 
very  much  appeased  by  what  they  had  heard,  the  tribunes, 
standing  up,  declared,  in  the  name  of  the  people,  that 
since  the  senate  was  pleased  to  act  soberly  and  do  them 
reason,  they,  likewise,  should  be  ready  to  yield  in  all  that 
was  fair  and  equitable  on  their  side ;  they  must  insist, 
however,  that  Marcius  should  give  in  his  answer  to  the 
several  charges  as  follows:  first,  could  he  deny  that  he 
instigated  the  senate  to  overthrow  the  government  and 
annul  the  privileges  of  the  people  ?  and,  in  the  next  place, 
when  called  to  account  for  it,  did  he  not  disobey  their 
summons?  and,  lastly,  by  the  blows  and  other  public 
affronts  to  the  JEdiles,  had  he  not  done  all  he  could  to 
commence  a  civil  war? 

These  articles  were  brought  in  against  him,  with  a 
design  either  to  humble  Marcius,  and  show  his  submission, 
if,  contrary  to  his  nature,  he  should  now  couj-t  and  sue 
the  people ;  or,  if  he  should  follow  his  natural  disposition, 
which  they  rather  expected  from  their  judgment  of  his 
character,  then  that  he  might  thus  make  the  breach  final 
between  himself  and  the  people. 

He  came,  therefore,  as  it  were,  to  make  his  apology,  and 
clear  himself;  in  which  belief  the  people  kept  silence,  and 
gave  him  a  quiet  hearing.  But  when,  instead  of  the  sub- 
missive and  deprecatory  language  expected  from  him,  he 
began  to  use  not  only  an  offensive  kind  of  freedom,  seeming 
rather  to  accuse  than  apologize,  but,  as  well  by  the  tone 
of  his  voice  as  the  air  of  his  countenance,  displayed  a 
security  that  was  not  far  from  disdain  and  contempt  of 
them,  the  whole  multitude  then  became  angry,  and  gave 
evident  signs  of  impatience  and  disgust;   and  Sicinnius, 


CORIOLANUS.  143 

the  most  violent  of  the  tribunes,  after  a  little  private  con- 
ference with  his  colleagues,  proceeded  solemnly  to  pro- 
nounce before  them  all,  that  Marcius  was  condemned  to  - 
die  by  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  and  bid  the  ^diles  take 
him  to  the  Tarpeian  rock,  and  without  delay  throw  him 
headlong  from  the  precipice.  When  they,  however,  in 
compliance  with  the  order,  came  to  seize  upon  his  body, 
many,  even  of  the  plebeian  party,  felt  it  to  be  a  horrible 
and  extravagant  act;  the  patricians,  meantime,  wholly 
beside  themselves  with  distress  and  horror,  hurried  up 
with  cries  to  the  rescue ;  and  while  some  made  actual  use 
of  their  hands  to  hinder  the  arrest,  and,  surrounding  Mar- 
cius, got  him  in  among  them,  others,  as  in  so  great  a 
tumult  no  good  could  be  done  by  words,  stretched  out 
theirs,  beseeching  the  multitude  that  they  would  not  pro- 
ceed to  such  furious  extremities ;  and  at  length,  the 
friends  and  acquaintance  of  the  tribunes,  wisely  perceiving 
how  impossible  it  would  be  to  carry  off  Marcius  to  pun- 
ishment without  much  bloodshed  and  slaughter  of  the 
nobility,  persuaded  them  to  forbear  everything  unusual 
and  odious;  not  to  despatch  him  by  any  sudden  violence, 
or  without  regular  process,  but  refer  the  cause  to  the 
general  suffrage  of  the  people.  Sicinnius  then,  after  a 
little  pause,  turning  to  the  patricians,  demanded  what 
their  meaning  was,  thus  forcibly  to  rescue  Marcius  out  of 
the  people's  hands,  as  they  were  going  to  punish  him ; 
when  it  was  replied  by  them,  on  the  other  side,  and  the 
question  put,  "  Rather,  how  came  it  into  your  minds,  and 
what  is  it  you  design,  thus  to  drag  one  of  the  worthiest 
men  of  Rome,  without  trial,  to  a  barbarous  and  illegal 

Tarpeian  rock:  a  steep  precipice  upon  the  southern  side  of  the  Capitoline 
Hill,  from  which  it  was  customary  to  cast  criminals  condemned  to  death. 


144  PLUTARCH'S    LIVES. 

execution?"  "Very  well,"  said  Sicinnius,  "you  shall 
have  no  ground  in  this  respect  for  quarrel  or  complaint 
against  the  people.  The  people  grant  your  request,  and 
your  partisan  shall  be  tried.  We  appoint  you,  Marcius," 
directing  his  speech  to  him,  "the  third  market-day  ensu- 
ing, to  appear  and  defend  yourself,  and  to  try  if  you  can 
satisfy  the  Roman  citizens  of  your  innocence,  who  will 
then  judge  your  case  by  vote."  The  patricians  were  con- 
tent with  such  a  truce  and  respite  for  that  time,  and 
gladly  returned  home,  having  for  the  present  brought  off 
Marcius  in  safety. 

During  the  interval  before  the  appointed  time,  a  war 
fell  out  with  the  Antiates,  likely  to  be  of  some  continu- 
ance, which  gave  them  hope  they  might  one  way  or  other 
elude  the  judgment.  The  people,  they  presumed,  would 
become  tractable,  and  their  indignation  lessen  and  languish 
by  degrees  in  so  long  a  space,  if  occupation  and  war  did 
not  wholly  put  it  out  of  their  mind.  But  when,  contrary 
to  expectation,  they  made  a  speedy  agreement  wdth  the 
people  of  Antium,  and  the  army  came  back  to  Rome,  the 
patricians  were  again  in  great  perplexity,  and  had  frequent 
meetings  to  consider  how  things  might  be  arranged  with- 
out either  abandoning  Marcius,  or  yet  giving  occasion  to 
the  popular  orators  to  create  new  disorders.  Appius 
Claudius,  whom  they  counted  among  the  senators  most 
averse  to  the  popular  interest,  made  a  solemn  declaration, 
and  told  them  beforehand,  that  the  senate  would  utterly 
destroy  itself  and  betray  the  government,  if  they  should 
once  suffer  the  people  to  assume  the  authority  of  pro- 
nouncing sentence  upon  any  of  the  patricians;  but  the 
oldest  senators  and  most  favorable  to  the  people  main- 
tained, on  the  other  side,  that  the  people  would  not  be  so 


CORIOLANUS.  145 

harsh  and  severe  upon  them,  as  some  were  pleased  to 
imagine,  but  rather  become  more  gentle  and  humane  upon 
the  concession  of  that  power,  since  it  was  not  contempt  of 
the  senate,  but  the  impression  of  being  contemned  by  it, 
which  made  them  pretend  to  such  a  prerogative.  Let  that 
be  once  allowed  them  as  a  mark  of  respect  and  kind  feel- 
ing, and  the  mere  possession  of  this  power  of  voting  would 
at  once  dispossess  them  of  their  animosity.  ^^^T^^H 

When,  therefore,  Marcius  saw  that  the  senate  was  iti 
pain  and  suspense  upon  his  account,  divided,  as  it  were, 
betwixt  their  kindness  for  him  and  their  apprehensions 
from  the  people,  he  desired  to  know  of  the  tribunes  what 
the  crimes  were  they  intended  to  charge  him  with,  and 
what  the  heads  of  the  indictment  they  would  oblige  him 
to  plead  to  before  the  people;  and  being  told  by  them 
that  he  was  to  be  impeached  for  attempting  usurpation, 
and  that  they  would  prove  him  guilty  of  designing  to  es- 
tablish arbitrary  government,  stepping  forth  upon  this, 
"Let  me  go  then,"  he  said,  "to  clear  myself  from  that 
imputation  before  an  assembly  of  them ;  I  freely  offer  my- 
self to  any  sort  of  trial,  nor  do  I  refuse  any  kind  of  pun- 
ishment whatsoever;  only,"  he  continued,  "let  what  you 
now  mention  be  really  made  my  accusation,  and  do  not 
you  play  false  with  the  senate."  On  their  consenting  to 
these  terms,  he  came  to  his  triaL  But  when  the  people 
met  together,  the  tribunes,  contrary  to  all  former  practice, 
extorted  first,  that  votes  should  be  taken,  not  by  centuries,^ 
but  tribes ;  a  change,  by  which  the  indigent  and  factious 
rabble,  that  had  no  respect  for  honesty  and  justice,  would 

Prerogative :  privilege. 

1  The  centuries  were  divisions  of  the  people  in  which  every  person  was 
classified  according  to  age  and  property,  so  that  the  rich  and  old  had  the  pre- 
cedence.   The  tribes  were  local  divisions. 


146  PLUTAKCH'S  LIVES. 

be  sure  to  carry  it  against  those  who  were  rich  and  well 
known,  and  accustomed  to  serve  the  state  in  war.  In  the 
next  place,  whereas  they  had  engaged  to  prosecute  Marcius 
upon  no  other  head  but  that  of  tyranny,  which  could  never 
be  made  out  against  him,  they  relinquished  this  plea,  and 
urged  instead,  his  language  in  the  senate  against  an  abate- 
ment of  the  price  of  corn,  and  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
tribunician  power ;  adding  further,  as  a  new  impeachment, 
the  distribution  that  was  made  by  him  of  the  spoil  and 
booty  he  had  taken  from  the  Antiates,  when  he  overran 
their  country,  which  he  had  divided  among  those  that  had 
followed  him,  whereas  it  ought  rather  to  have  been  brought 
into  the  public  treasury ;  which  last  accusation  did,  they 
say,  more  discompose  Marcius  than  all  the  rest,  as  he  had 
not  anticipated  he  should  ever  be  questioned  on  that  sub- 
ject, and,  therefore,  was  less  provided  with  any  satisfactory 
answer  to  it  on  the  sudden.  And  when,  by  way  of  excuse, 
he  began  to  magnify  the  merits  of  those  who  had  been  par- 
takers with  him  in  the  action,  those  that  had  stayed  at 
home,  being  more  numerous  than  the  other,  interrupted 
him  with  outcries.  In  conclusion,  when  they  came  to  vote, 
a  majority  of  three  tribes  condemned  him;  the  penalty 
being  perpetual  banishment.  The  sentence  of  his  con- 
demnation being  pronounced,  the  people  went  away  with 
greater  triumph  and  exultation  than  they  had  ever  shown 
for  any  victory  over  enemies;  while  the  senate  was  in 
grief  and  deep  dejection,  repenting  now  and  vexed  to  the 
soul  that  they  had  not  done  and  suffered  all  things  rather 
than  give  way  to  the  insolence  of  the  people,  and  permit 
them  to  assume  and  abuse  so  great  an  authority.  There 
was  no  need  then  to  look  at  men's  dresses,  or  other  marks 
of  distinction,  to  know  one  from  another:  any  one  who 


CORIOLANUS.  147 

was  glad  was,  beyond  all  doubt,  a  plebeian ;  any  one  who 
looked  sorrowful,  a  patrician. 

Marcius  alone,  himself,  was  neither  stunned  nor  humili- 
ated. In  mien,  carriage,  and  countenance,  he  bore  the 
appearance  of  entire  composure,  and  while  all  his  friends 
were  full  of  distress,  seemed  the  only  man  that  was  not 
touched  with  his  misfortune.  Not  that  either  reflection 
taught  him,  or  gentleness  of  temper  made  it  natural  for 
him,  to  submit:  he  was  wholly  possessed,  on  the  contrary, 
with  a  profound  and  deep-seated  fury,  which  passes  with 
many  for  no  pain  at  all.  And  pain,  it  is  true,  transmuted, 
so  to  say,  by  its  own  fiery  heat  into  anger,  loses  every 
appearance  of  depression  and  feebleness ;  the  angry  man 
makes  a  show  of  energy,  as  the  man  in  a  high  fever  does 
of  natural  heat,  while,  m  fact,  all  this  action  of  the  soul 
is  but  mere  diseased  palpitation,  distention,  and  inflamma- 
tion. That  such  was  his  distempered  state  appeared  pres- 
ently plainly  enough  in  his  actions.  On  his  return  home, 
after  saluting  his  mother  and  his  wife,  who  were  all  in 
tears  and  full  of  loud  lamentations,  and  exhorting  them  to 
moderate  the  sense  they  had  of  his  calamity,  he  proceeded 
at  once  to  the  city  gates,  whither  all  the  nobility  came  to 
attend  him;  and  so,  not  so  much  as  taking  anything  with 
him,  or  making  any  request  to  the  company,  he  departed 
from  them,  having  only  three  or  four  clients  with  him. 
He  continued  solitary  for  a  few  days  in  a  place  in  the  coun- 
try, distracted  with  a  variety  of  counsels,  such  as  rage  and 
indignation  suggested  to  him ;  and  proposing  to  himself 
no  honorable  or  useful  end,  but  only  how  he  might  best 
satisfy  his  revenge  on  the  Romans,  he  resolved  at  length 
to  raise  up  a  heavy  war  against  them  from  their  nearest 
neighbors.     He  determined,  first,  to  make  trial  of  the  Vol- 


148  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

scians,  whom  he  knew  to  be  still  vigorous  and  flourishing, 
both  in  men  and  treasure,  and  he  imagined  their  force  and 
power  was  not  so  much  abated,  as  their  spite  and  anger 
increased,  by  the  late  overthrows  they  had  received  from 
the  Romans. 

There  was  a  man  of  Antium,  called  Tullus  Aufidius,  who, 
for  his  wealth  and  bravery  and  the  splendor  of  his  family, 
had  the  respect  and  privilege  of  a  king  among  the  Vol- 
scians,  but  whom  Marcius  knew  to  have  a  particular  hos- 
tility to  himself,  above  all  other  Romans.  Frequent  men- 
aces and  challenges  had  passed  in  battle  between  them, 
and  those  exchanges  of  defiance  to  which  their  hot  and 
eager  emulation  is  apt  to  prompt  young  soldiers  had  added 
private  animosity  to  their  national  feelings  of  opposition. 
Yet  for  all  this,  considering  Tullus  to  have  a  certain  gen- 
erosity of  temper,  and  knowing  that  no  Volscian,  so  much 
as  he,  desired  an  occasion  to  requite  from  the  Romans 
the  evils  they  had  done,  he  did  what  much  confirms  the 
saying,  that 

Hard  and  unequal  is  with  wrath  the  strife, 
Which  makes  us  buy  its  pleasure  with  our  life. 

Putting  on  such  a  dress  as  would  make  him  appear  to  any 
whom  he  might  meet  most  unlike  what  he  really  was ;  thus, 
like  Ulysses, — 

The  town  he  entered  of  his  mortal  foes. 

His  arrival  at  Antium  was  about  evening,  and  though 
several  met  him  in  the  streets,  yet  he  passed  along  with-, 
out  being  known  to  any,  and  went  directly  to  the  house 
of  Tullus,  and,  entering  undiscovered,  went  up  to  the  fire- 
hearth,  and  seated  himself  there  without  speaking  a  word, 
covering  up  his  head.     Those  of  the  family  could  not  but 


CORTOLANUS.  149 

wonder,  and  yet  they  were  afraid  either  to  raise  or  ques- 
tion him,  for  there  was  a  certain  air  of  majesty  both  in  his 
posture  and  silence,  but  they  recounted  to  TuUus,  being 
then  at  supper,  the  strangeness  of  this  accident.  He  im- . 
mediately  rose  from  table  and  came  in,  and  asked  him  who 
he  was,  and  for  what  business  he  came  thither  ;  and  then 
Marcius,  unmuffling  himself,  and  pausing  awhile,  "  If,"  said 
he,  "you  cannot  yet  call  me  to  mind,  Tullus,  or  do  not 
believe  your  eyes  concerning  me,  I  must  of  necessity  be 
my  own  accuser.  I  am  Caius  Marcius,  the  author  of  so 
much  mischief  to  the  Volscians ;  of  which,  were  I  seeking 
to  deny  it,  the  surname  of  Coriolanus  I  now  bear  would 
be  a  sufficient  evidence  against  me.  The  one  recompense 
I  received  for  all  the  hardships  and  perils  I  have  gone 
through,  was  the  title  that  proclaims  my  enmity  to  your 
nation,  and  this  is  the  only  thing  which  is  still  left  me. 
Of  all  other  advantages,  I  have  been  stripped  and  deprived 
by  the  envy  and  outrage  of  the  Roman  people,  and  the 
cowardice  and  treachery  of  the  magistrates  and  those  of 
my  own  order.  I  am  driven  out  as  an  exile,  and  become 
an  humble  suppliant  at  your  hearth,  not  so  much  for 
safety  and  protection  (should  I  have  come  hither,  had  I 
been  afraid  to  die?),  as  to  seek  vengeance  against  those 
that  expelled  me;  which,  methinks,  I  have  already  ob- 
tained, by  putting  myself  into  your  hands.  If,  therefore, 
you  have  really  a  mind  to  attack  your  enemies,  come  then, 
make  use  of  that  affliction  you  see  me  in  to  assist  the  en- 
terprise, and  convert  my  personal  infelicity  into  a  common 
blessing  to  the  Volscians;  as,  indeed,  I  am  likely  to  be 
more  serviceable  in  fighting  for  than  against  you,  with 
the  advantage,  which  I  now  possess,  of  knowing  all  the 
secrets  of  the  enemy  that  I  am   attacking.     But  if  you 


150  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

decline  to  make  any  further  attempts,  I  am  neither  desirous 
to  live  myself,  nor  will  it  be  well  in  you  to  preserve  a  per- 
son who  has  been  your  rival  and  adversary  of  old,  and 
now,  when  he  offers  you  his  service,  appears  unprofitable 
and  useless  to  you." 

TuUus,  on  hearing  this,  was  extremely  rejoiced,  and  giv- 
ing him  his  right  hand,  exclaimed,  "  Rise,  Marcius,  and  be 
of  good  courage ;  it  is  a  great  happiness  you  bring  to  An- 
tium,  in  the  present  you  make  us  of  yourself ;  expect  every- 
thing that  is  good  from  the  Volscians."  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  feast  and  entertain  him  with  every  display  of 
kindness,  and  for  several  days  after,  they  were  in  close 
deliberations  together  on  the  prospects  of  a  war. 

While  this  design  was  forming,  there  were  great  trou- 
bles and  commotions  at  Rome,  from  the  animosity  of  the 
senators  against  the  people,  heightened  just  now  by  the 
late  condemnation  of  Marcius.  Besides  that,  their  sooth- 
sayers and  priests,  and  even  private  persons,  reported 
signs  and  prodigies  not  to  be  neglected ;  one  of  which  is 
stated  to  have  occurred  as  follows :  Titus  Latinus,  a  man 
of  ordinary  condition,  but  of  a  quiet  and  virtuous  char- 
acter, free  from  all  superstitious  fancies,  and  yet  more 
from  vanity  and  exaggeration,  had  an  apparition  in  his 
sleep,  as  if  Jupiter  came  and  bade  him  tell  the  senate,  that 
it  was  with  a  bad  and  unacceptable  dancer  that  they  had 
headed  his  procession.  Having  beheld  the  vision,  he  said, 
he  did  not  much  attend  to  it  at  the  first  appearance ;  but 
after  he  had  seen  and  slighted  it  a  second  and  third  time^ 
he  had  lost  a  hopeful  son,  and  was  himself  struck  with  a 
palsy.  He  was  brought  into  the  senate  on  a  litter  to  tell 
this,  and  the  story  goes,  that  he  had  no  sooner  delivered 
his  message  there,  but  he  at  once  felt  his  strength  return, 


CORIOLANUS.  151 

and  got  upon  his  legs,  and  went  home  alone,  without  need 
of  any  support.  The  senators,  in  wonder  and  surprise, 
made  a  diligent  search  into  the  matter.  That  which  his 
dream  alluded  to  was  this:  some  citizen  had,  for  some 
heinous  offence,  given  up  a  servant  of  his  to  the  rest  of 
his  fellows,  with  charge  to  whip  him  first  through  the 
market,  and  then  to  kill  him ;  and  while  they  were  exe- 
cuting this  command,  and  scourging  the  wretch,  who 
screwed  and  turned  himself  into  all  manner  of  shapes  and 
unseemly  motions,  through  the  pain  he  was  in,  the  solemn 
procession  in  honor  of  Jupiter  chanced  to  follow  at  their 
heels.  Several  of  the  attendants  on  which  were,  indeed, 
scandalized  at  the  sight,  yet  no  one  of  them  interfered,  or 
acted  further  in  the  matter  than  merely  to  utter  some 
common  reproaches  and  execrations  on  a  master  who  in- 
flicted so  cruel  a  punishment.  For  the  Romans  treated 
their  slaves  with  great  humanity  in  these  times,  when, 
working  and  laboring  themselves,  and  living  together 
among  them,  they  naturally  were  more  gentle  and  familiar 
with  them.  It  was  one  of  the  severest  punishments  for  a 
slave  who  had  committed  a  fault,  to  have  to  take  the  piece 
of  wood  which  supports  the  pole  of  a  wagon,  and  carry  it 
about  through  the  neighborhood;  a  slave  who  had  once 
undergone  the  shame  of  this,  and  been  thus  seen  by  the 
household  and  the  neighbors,  had  no  longer  any  trust  or 
credit  among  them. 

When,  therefore,  Latinus  had  related  his  dream,  and 
the  senators  were  considering  who  this  disagreeable  and 
ungainly  dancer  could  be,  some  of  the  company,  having 
been  struck  with  the  strangeness  of  the  punishment, 
called  to  mind  and  mentioned  the  miserable  slave  who 
was  lashed  through  the  streets  and  afterward  put  to  death. 


152  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

The  priests,  when  consulted,  confirmed  the  conjecture ; 
the  master  was  punished,  and  orders  given  for  a  new  cele- 
bration of  the  procession  and  the  spectacles  in  honor  of  the 
god.  Numa,  in  other  respects  also  a  wise  arranger  of 
religious  offices,  would  seem  to  have  been  .especially  judi- 
cious in  his  direction,  with  a  view  to  the  attentiveness  of 
the  people,  that,  when  the  magistrates  or  priests  performed 
any  divine  worship,  a  herald  should  go  before,  and  proclaim 
with  a  loud  voice.  Hoc  age^  Do  this  you  are  about,  and  so 
warn  them  to  mind  whatever  sacred  action  they  were 
engaged  in,  and  not  suffer  any  business  or  worldly  avoca- 
tion to  disturb  and  interrupt  it ;  most  of  the  things  which 
men  do  of  this  kind,  being  in  a  manner  forced  from  them, 
and  effected  by  constraint.  It  is  usual  with  the  Romans 
to  recommence  their  sacrifices  and  processions  and  spec- 
tacles, not  only  upon  such  a  cause  as  this,  but  for  any 
slighter  reason.  If  but  one  of  the  horses  which  drew  the 
chariots  called  Tensse,  upon  which  the  images  of  their  gods 
were  placed,  happened  to  fail  and  falter,  or  if  the  driver 
took  hold  of  the  reins  with  his  left  hand,  they  would  decree 
that  the  whole  operation  should  commence  anew ;  and,  in 
latter  ages,  one  and  the  same  sacrifice  was  performed 
thirty  times  over,  because  of  the  occurrence  of  some  defect 
or  mistake  or  accident  in  the  service.  Such  was  the  Roman 
reverence  and  caution  in  religious  matters. 

Marcius  and  TuUus  were  now  secretly  discoursing  of 
their  project  with  the  chief  men  of  Antium,  advising 
them  to  invade  the  Romans  while  they  were  at  variance 
among  themselves.  And  when  shame  appeared  to  hinder 
them  from  embracing  the  motion,  as  they  had  sworn  to  a 
truce  and  cessation  of  arms  for  the  space  of  two  years,  the 
Romans  themselves  soon  furnished  them  with  a  pretence, 


CORTOLANUS.  153 

by  making  proclamation,  out  of  some  jealousy  or  slanderous 
report,  in  the  midst  of  the  spectacles,  that  all  the  Volscians 
who  had  come  to  see  them  should  depart  the  city  before  sun- 
set. Some  affirm  that  this  was  a  contrivance  of  Marcius, 
who  sent  a  man  privately  to  the  consuls,  falsely  to  accuse  the 
Volscians  of  intending  to  fall  upon  the  Romans  during  the 
games,  and  to  set  the  city  on  fire.  This  public  affront 
roused  and  inflamed  their  hostility  to  the  Romans ;  and 
Tullus,  perceiving  it,  made  his  advantage  of  it,  aggravating 
the  fact,  and  working  on  their  indignation  till  he  per- 
suaded them,  at  last,  to  despatch  ambassadors  to  Rome, 
requiring  the  Romans  to  restore  that  part  of  their  country 
and  those  towns  which  they  had  taken  from  the  Volscians 
in  the  late  war.  When  the  Romans  heard  the  message, 
they  indignantly  replied,  that  the  Volscians  were  the  first 
that  took  up  arms,  but  the  Romans  would  be  the  last  to  lay 
them  down.  This  answer  being  brought  back,  Tullus  called 
a  general  assembly  of  the  Volscians  ;  and  the  vote  passing 
for  a  war,  he  then  proposed  that  they  should  call  in  Mar- 
cius, laying  aside  the  remembrance  of  former  grudges,  and 
assuring  themselves  that  the  services  they  should  now 
receive  from  him  as  a  friend  and  associate,  would  abun- 
dantly outweigh  any  harm  or  damage  he  had  done  them 
when  he  was  their  enemy.  Marcius  was  accordingly  sum- 
moned, and  having  made  his  entrance,  and  spoken  to  the 
people,  won  their  good  opinion  of  his  capacity,  his  skill, 
counsel,  and  boldness,  not  less  by  his  present  words  than 
by  his  past  actions.  They  joined  him  in  commission  with 
Tullus,  to  have  full  power  as  general  of  their  forces  in  all 
that  related  to  the  war.  And  he,  fearing  lest  the  time 
that  would  be  requisite  to  bring  all  the  Volscians  together 
in  full  preparation  might  be  so  long  as  to  lose  him   the 


154  PLUTAHCH'S   LIVES. 

opportunity  of  action,  left  order  with  the  chief  persons  and 
magistrates  of  the  city  to  provide  other  things,  while  he 
himself,  prevailing  upon- the  most  forward  to  assemble 
and  march  out  with  him  as  volunteers  without  staying  to 
be  enrolled,  made  a  sudden  inroad  into  the  Roman  con- 
fines, when  nobody  expected  him,  and  possessed  himself 
of  so  much  booty,  that  the  Volscians  found  they  had 
more  than  they  could  either  carry  away  or  use  in  the 
camp.  The  abundance  of  provision  which  he  gained, 
and  the  waste  and  havoc  of  the  country  which  he  made, 
were,  however,  of  themselves  and  in  his  account,  the 
smallest  results  of  that  invasion  ;  the  great  mischief  he 
intended,  and  his  special  object  in  all,  was  to  increase  at 
Rome  the  suspicions  entertained  of  the  patricians,  and  to 
make  them  upon  worse  terms  with  the  people.  With 
this  view,  while  spoiling  all  the  fields  and  destroying  the 
property  of  other  men,  he  took  special  care  to  preserve 
their  farms  and  lands  untouched,  and  would  not  allow  his 
soldiers  to  ravage  there,  or  seize  upon  anything  which 
belonged  to  them.  From  hence  their  invectives  and 
quarrels  against  one  another  broke  out  afresh,  and  rose 
to  a  greater  height  than  ever ;  the  senators  reproach- 
ing those  of  the  commonalty  with  their  late  injustice  to 
Marcius  ;  while  the  plebeians,  on  their  side,  did  not  hesitate 
to  accuse  them  of  having,  out  of  spite  and  revenge,  solic- 
ited him  to  this  enterprise,  and  thus,  when  others  were 
involved  in  the  miseries  of  a  war  by  their  means,  they  sat 
like  unconcerned  spectators,  as  being  furnished  with  a- 
guardian  and  protector  abroad  of  their  wealth  and  for- 
tunes, in  the  very  person  of  the  public  enemy.  After  this 
incursion  and  exploit,  which  was  of  great  advantage  to  the 
Volscians,  as  they  learned  by  it  to  grow  more  hardy  and 


CORIOLANUS.  155 

to  contemn  their  enemy,  Marcius  drew  them  off,  and  re- 
turned in  safety. 

But  when  the  whole  strength  of  the  Volscians  was 
brought  together  into  the  field,  with  great  expedition  and 
alacrity,  it  appeared  so  considerable  a  body,  that  they 
agreed  to  leave  part  in  garrison,  for  the  security  of  their 
towns,  and  with  the  other  part  to  march  against  the 
Romans.  Marcius  now  desired  Tullus  to  choose  which  of 
the  two  charges  would  be  most  agreeable  to  him.  Tullus 
answered,  that  since  he  knew  Marcius  to  be  equally  val- 
iant with  himself,  and  far  more  fortunate,  he  would  have 
him  take  the  command  of  those  that  were  going  out  to 
the  war,  while  he  made  it  his  care  to  defend  their  cities 
at  home,  and  provide  all  conveniences  for  the  army  abroad. 
Marcius  thus  reinforced,  and  much  stronger  than  before, 
moved  first  towards  the  city  called  Circseum,  a  Roman 
colony.  He  received  its  surrender,  and  did  the  inhabi- 
tants no  injury ;  passing  thence,  he  entered  and  laid  waste 
the  country  of  the  Latins,  where  he  expected  the  Romans 
would  meet  him,  as  the  Latins  were  their  confederates 
and  allies,  and  had  often  sent  to  demand  succors  from 
them.  The  people,  however,  on  their  part,  showing  little 
inclination  for  the  service,  and  the  consuls  themselves 
being  unwilling  to  run  the  hazard  of  a  battle,  when  the 
time  of  their  office  was  almost  ready  to  expire,  they  dis- 
missed the  Latin  ambassadors  without  any  effect ;  so  that 
Marcius,  finding  no  army  to  oppose  him,  marched  up  to 
their  cities,  and,  having  taken  by  force  Toleria,  Lavici, 
Peda,  and  Bola,  all  of  which  offered  resistance,  not  only 
plundered  their  houses,  but  made  a  prey  likewise  of  their 
persons.  Meantime,  he  showed  particular  regard  for  all 
such  as  came  over  to  his  party,  and,  for  fear  they  might 


156  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

sustain  any  damage  against  his  will,  encamped  at  the 
greatest  distance  he  could,  and  wholly  abstained  from  the 
lands  of  their  property. 

After,  however,  that  he  had  made  himself  master  of 
Bola,  a  town  not  above  ten  miles  from  Rome,  where  he 
found  great  treasure,  and  put' almost  all  the  adults  to  the 
sword;  and  when,  on  this,  the  other  Volscians  that  were 
ordered  to  stay  behind  and  protect  their  cities,  hearing 
of  his  achievements  and  success,  had  not  patience  to 
remain  any  longer  at  home,  but  came  hastening  in  their 
arms  to  Marcius,  saying  that  he  alone  was  their  general 
and  the  sole  commander  they  would  own ;  with  all  this, 
his  name  and  renown  spread  throughout  all  Italy,  and 
universal  wonder  prevailed  at  the  sudden  and  mighty 
revolution  in  the  fortunes  of  two  nations  which  the  loss 
and  the  accession  of  a  single  man  had  effected. 

All  at  Rome  was  in  great  disorder ;  they  were  utterly 
averse  from  fighting,  and  spent  their  whole  time  in  cabals 
and  disputes  and  reproaches  against  each  other;  until 
news  was  brought  that  the  enemy  had  laid  close  siege  to 
Lavinium,  where  were  the  images  and  sacred  things  of 
their  tutelar  gods,  and  from  whence  they  derived  the 
origin  of  their  nation,  that  being  the  first  city  which 
^neas  built  in  Italy.  These  tidings  produced  a  change 
as  universal  as  it  was  extraordinary  in  the  thoughts  and 
inclinations  of  the  people,  but  occasioned  a  yet  stranger 
revulsion  of  feeling  among  the  patricians.  The  people 
now  were  for  repealing  the  sentence  against  Marcius,  and 
calling  him  back  into  the  city :  whereas  the  senate,  being 
assembled  to  preconsider  the  decree,  opposed  and  finally 

Cabals  :  intrigue,  plots. 

Tutelar:  guardian  (or  protecting). 


CORIOLANUS.  157 

rejected  the  proposal,  either  out  of  the  mere  humor  of 
contradicting  and  withstanding  the  people  in  whatever 
they  should  desire,  or  because  they  were  unwilling,  per- 
haps, that  he  should  owe  his  restoration  to  their  kindness ; 
or  having  now  conceived  a  displeasure  against  Marcius 
himself,  who  w^as  bringing  distress  upon  all  alike,  though 
he  had  not  been  ill  treated  by  all,  and  was  become  a 
declared  enemy  to  his  whole  country,  though  he  knew 
well  enough  that  the  principal  and  all  the  better  men 
condoled  with  him,  and  suffered  in  his  injuries. 

This  resolution  of  theirs  being  made  public,  the  peo- 
ple could  proceed  no  further,  having  no  authority  to  pass 
anything  by  suffrage,  and  enact  it  for  a  law,  without  a 
previous  decree  from  the  senate.  When  Marcius  heard 
of  this,  he  was  more  exasperated  than  ever,  and,  quitting 
the  siege  of  Lavinium,  marched  furiously  towards  Rome, 
and  encamped  at  a  place  called  the  Cluilian  ditches, 
about  five  miles  from  the  city.  The  nearness  of  his  ap- 
proach did,  indeed,  create  much  terror  and  disturbance, 
yet  it  also  ended  their  dissensions  for  the  present ;  as  no- 
body now,  whether  consul  or  senator,  durst  any  longer 
contradict  the  people  in  their  design  of  recalling  Marcius ; 
but,  seeing  their  women  running  affrighted  up  and  down 
the  streets,  and  the  old  men  at  prayer  in  every  temple 
with  tears  and  supplications,  and  that,  in  short,  there  was 
a  general  absence  among  them  both  of  courage  and  wis- 
dom to  provide  for  their  own  safety,  they  came  at  last  to 
be  all  of  one  mind,  that  the  people  had  been  in  the  right 
to  propose  as  they  did  a  reconciliation  with  Marcius,  and 
that  the  senate  was  guilty  of  a  fatal  error  to  begin  a  quar- 
rel with  him  when  it  was  a  time  to  forget  offences,  and 
they   should   have   studied   rather   to    appease    him.      It 


158  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

was,  therefore,  unanimously  agreed  by  all  parties,  that 
ambassadors  should  be  despatched,  offering  him  return 
to  his  country,  and  desiring  he  would  free  them  from  the 
terrors  and  distresses  of  the  war.  The  persons  sent  by 
the  senate  with  this  message  were  chosen  out  of  his 
kindred  and  acquaintance,  who  naturally  expected  a  Ycry 
kind  reception  at  their  first  interview,  upon  the  score  of 
that  relation  and  their  old  familiarity  and  friendship  with 
him;  in  which,  however,  they  were  much  mistaken.  Be- 
ing led  through  the  enemy's  camp,  they  found  him  sitting 
in  state  amidst  the  chief  men  of  the  Volscians,  looking 
insupportably  proud  and  arrogant.  He  bade  them  de- 
clare the  cause  of  their  coming,  which  they  did  in  the 
most  gentle  and  tender  terms,  and  with  a  behavior  suita- 
ble to  their  language.  When  they  had  made  an  end  of 
speaking,  he  returned  them  a  sharp  answer,  full  of  bitter- 
ness and  angry  resentment,  as  to  what  concerned  himself, 
and  the  ill  usage  he  had  received  from  them ;  but  as  gen- 
eral of  the  Volscians,  he  demanded  restitution  of  the  cities 
and  the  lands  which  had  been  seized  upon  during  the  late 
war,  and  that  the  same  rights  and  franchises  should  be 
granted  them  at  Rome,  which  had  been  before  accorded 
to  the  Latins;  since  there  could  be  no  assurance  that  a 
peace  would  be  firm  and  lasting,  without  fair  and  just 
conditions  on  both  sides.  He  allowed  them  thirty  days 
to  consider  and  resolve. 

The  ambassadors  being  departed,  he  withdrew  his  forces 
out  of  the  Roman  territory.  This,  those  of  the  Volscians 
who  had  long  envied  his  reputation,  and  could  not  endure 
to  see  the  influence  he  had  with  the  people,  laid  hold  of, 
as  the  first  matter  of  complaint  against  him.  Among 
Franchises  :  privileges. 


CORIOLANUS.  169 

them  was  also  TuUus  himself,  not  for  any  wrong  done 
him  personally  by  Marcius,  but  through  the  weakness  in- 
cident to  human  nature.  He  could  not  help  feeling  mor- 
tified to  find  his  own  glory  thus  totally  obscured,  and 
himself  overlooked  and  neglected  now  by  the  Volscians, 
who  had  so  great  an  opinion  of  their  new  leader,  that 
he  alone  was  all  to  them,  while  other  captains,  they 
thought,  should  be  content  with  that  share  of  power, 
which  he  might  think  fit  to  accord.  From  hence  the  first 
seeds  of  complaint  and  accusation  were  scattered  about 
in  secret,  and  the  malcontents  met  and  heightened  each 
other's  indignation,  saying,  that  to  retreat  as  he  did,  was 
in  effect  to  betray  and  deliver  up,  though  not  their  cities 
and  their  arms,  yet  what  was  as  bad,  the  critical  times 
and  opportunities  for  action,  on  which  depend  the  preser- 
vation or  the  loss  of  everything  else;  since  in  less  than 
thirty  days'  space,  for  which  he  had  given  a  respite  from 
the  war,  there  might  happen  the  greatest  changes  in  the 
world.  Yet  Marcius  spent  not  any  part  of  the  time  idly, 
but  attacked  the  confederates  of  the  enemy,  ravaged  their 
land,  and  took  from  them  seven  great  and  populous  cities 
in  that  interval.  The  Romans,  in  the  meanwhile,  durst 
not  venture  out  to  their  relief ;  but  were  utterly  fearful, 
and  showed  no  more  disposition  or  capacity  for  action, 
than  if  their  bodies  had  been  struck  with  a  palsy,  and  be- 
come destitute  of  sense  and  motion.  But  when  the  thirty 
days  were  expired,  and  Marcius  appeared  again  with  his 
whole  army,  they  sent  another  embassy  to  beseech  him 
that  he  would  moderate  his  displeasure,  and  would  with- 
draw the  Volscian  army,  and  then  make  any  proposals  he 
thought  best  for  both  parties;  the  Romans  would  make 
no  concessions  to  menaces,  but  if  it  were  his  opinion  that 


160  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

the  Volscians  ought  to  have  any  favor  shown  them,  upon 
laying  down  their  arms  they  might  obtain  all  they  could 
in  reason  desire. 

The  reply  of  Marcius  was,  that  he  should  make  no 
answer  to  this  as  general  of  the  Volscians,  but,  in  the 
quality  still  of  a  Roman  citizen,  he  would  advise  and  ex- 
hort them,  as  the  case  stood,  not  to  carry  it  so  high,  but 
think  rather  of  just  compliance,  and  return  to  him,  before 
three  days  were  at  an  end,  with  a  ratification  of  his  pre- 
vious demands;  otherwise,  they  must  understand  that 
they  could  not  have  any  further  freedom  of  passing 
through  his  camp  upon  idle  errands. 

When  the  ambassadors  were  come  back,  and  had  ac- 
quainted the  senate  with  the  answer,  seeing  the  whole 
state  now  threatened  as  it  were  by  a  tempest,  and  the 
waves  ready  to  overwhelm  them,  they  were  forced,  as  we 
say  in  extreme  perils,  to  let  down  the  sacred  anchor.  A 
decree  was  made,  that  the  whole  order  of  their  priests, 
those  who  initiated  in  the  mysteries  or  had  the  custody 
of  them,  and  those  who,  according  to  their  ancient  prac- 
tice of  the  country,  divined  from  birds,  should  all  and 
every  one  of  them  go  in  full  procession  to  Marcius  with 
their  pontifical  array,  and  the  dress  and  habit  which  they 
respectively  used  in  their  several  functions,  and  should 
urge  him,  as  before,  to  withdraw  his  forces,  and  then  treat 
with  his  countrymen  in  favor  of  the  Volscians.  He  con- 
sented so  far,  indeed,  as  to  give  the  deputation  an  admit- 
tance into  his  camp,  but  granted  nothing  at  all,  nor  so 
much  as  expressed  himself  more  mildly;  but,  without 
capitulating  or  receding,  bade  them  once  for  all  choose 

Divined  from  birds  :  foretold  the  future  from  the  flight  or  actions  of  birds. 
Pontifical :  priestly. 


CORIOLANUS.  161 

whether  they  would  yield  or  fight,  since  the  old  terms 
were  the  only  terms  of  peace.  When  this  solemn  appli- 
cation proved  ineffectual,  the  priests,  too,  returning  un- 
successful, they  determined  to  sit  still  within  the  city,  and 
keep  watch  about  their  walls,  intending  only  to  repulse 
the  enemy,  should  he  offer  to  attack  them,  and  placing 
their  hopes  chiefly  in  time  and  in  extraordinary  accidents 
of  fortune ;  as  to  themselves,  they  felt  incapable  of  doing 
anything  for  their  own  deliverance;  mere  confusion  and 
terror  and  ill-boding  reports  possessed  the  whole  city ;  till 
at  last  a  thing  happened  not  unlike  what  we  so  often  find 
represented,  without,  however,  being  accepted  as  true  b}^ 
people  in  general,  in  Homer.  On  some  great  and  unusual 
occasion  we  find  him  say :  — 

But  him  the  blue-eyed  goddess  did  inspire ; 

and  elsewhere :  — 

But  some  immortal  turned  my  mind  away, 
To  think  what  others  of  the  deed  would  say ; 

and  again: — - 

Were't  his  own  thought  or  were't  a  god's  command. 

People  are  apt,  in  such  passages,  to  censure  and  disregard 
the  poet,  as  if,  by  the  introduction  of  mere  impossibilities 
and  idle  fictions,  he  were  denying  the  action  of  a  man's 
own  deliberate  thought  and  free  choice ;  which  is  not,  in 
the  least,  the  case  in  Homer's  representation,  where  the 
ordinary,  probable,  and  habitual  conclusions  that  common 
reason  leads  to  are  continually  ascribed  to  our  own  direct 
agency.     He  certainly  says  frequently  enough :  — 

But  I  consulted  with  my  own  great  soul; 
or,  as  in  another  passage :  — 


162  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

He  spoke.     Achilles,  with  quick  pain  possessed, 
Revolved  two  purposes  in  his  strong  breast ; 

and  in  a  third :  — 

—  Yet  never  to  her  wishes  won 
The  just  mind  of  the  brave  Bellerophon. 

But  where  the  act  is  something  out  of  the  way  and  ex- 
traordinary, and  seems  in  a  manner  to  demand  some 
impulse  of  divine  possession  and  sudden  inspiration  to 
account  for  it,  here  he  does  introduce  divine  agency,  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  prompt  the  human  will ;  not  to  create 
in  us  another  agency,  but  offering  images  to  stimulate 
our  own ;  images  that  in  no  sort  or  kind  make  our  action 
involuntary,  but  give  occasion  rather  to  spontaneous  ac- 
tion, aided  and  sustained  by  feelings  of  confidence  and 
hope.  For  either  we  must  totally  dismiss  and  exclude 
divine  influences  from  every  kind  of  causality  and  origin- 
ation in  what  we  do,  or  else  what  other  way  can  we  con- 
ceive in  which  divine  aid  and  cooperation  can  act? 
Certainly  we  cannot  suppose  that  the  divine  beings  actu- 
ally and  literally  turn  our  bodies  and  direct  our  hands 
and  our  feet  this  way  or  that,  to  do  what  is  right:  but 
that  by  certain  motives  and  ideas  which  they  suggest, 
they  either  excite  the  active  powers  of  the  will,  or  else 
restrain  them. 

In  the  perplexity  which  I  have  described,  the  Roman 
women  went,  some  to  other  temples,  but  the  greater  part, 
and  the  ladies  of  highest  rank,  to  the  altar  of  Jupiter  Cap- 
itolinus.  Among  these  suppliants  was  Valeria,  sister  to 
the  great  Poplicola,  who  did  the  Romans  eminent  service 

Jupiter  Capitolinus :  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,  so  called  from  his  temple  on 
the  summit  of  the  Capitolian  Hill  in  Rome ;  here  was  the  citadel  of  the  city, 
and  here  also  was  a  magnificent  shrine  to  Jupiter,  the  Father  of  Gods  and  Men. 


CORIOLANUS.  163 

both  in  peace  and  war.  Poplicola  himself  was  now  de- 
ceased, as  is  told  in  the  history  of  his  life ;  but  Valeria 
lived  still,  and  enjoyed  great  respect  and  honor  at  Rome, 
her  life  and  conduct  no  way  disparaging  her  birth.  She, 
suddenly  seized  with  the  sort  of  instinct  or  emotion  of 
mind  which  I  have  described,  and  happily  lighting,  not 
without  divine  guidance,  on  the  right  expedient,  both  rose 
herself,  and  bade  the  others  rise,  and  went  directly  with 
them  to  the  house  of  Volumnia,  the  mother  of  Marcius. 
And  coming  in  and  finding  her  sitting  with  her  daughter- 
in-law,  and  with  her  little  grandchildren  on  her  lap,  Vale- 
ria, then  surrounded  by  her  female  companions,  spoke  in 
the  name  of  them  all:  — 

"  We  that  now  make  our  appearance,  O  Volumnia,  and 
you  Vergilia,  are  come  as  mere  women  to  women,  not  by 
direction  of  the  senate,  or  an  order  from  the  consuls,  or 
the  appointment  of  any  other  magistrate ;  but  the  divine 
being  himself,  as  I  conceive,  moved  td  compassion  by  our 
prayers,  prompted  us  to  visit  you  in  a  body,  and  request 
a  thing  on  which  our  own  and  the  common  safety  depends, 
and  which,  if  you  consent  to  it,  will  raise  your  glory  above 
that  of  the  daughters  of  the  Sabines,  who  won  over  their 
fathers  and  their  husbands  from  mortal  enmity  to  peace 
and  friendship.  Arise  and  come  with  us  to  Marcius ;  join 
in  our  supplication,  and  bear  for  your  country  this  true 
and  just  testimony  on  her  behalf:  that,  notwithstanding 
the  many  mischiefs  that  have  been  done  her,  yet  she  has 
never  outraged  you,  nor  so  much  as  thought  of  treating 
you  ill,  in  all  her  resentment,  but  does  now  restore  you 

Sabines:  one  of  the  early  peoples  of  Italy;  the  Romans  under  Romulus, 
their  founder,  seized  the  Sabine  women  for  wives.  A  war  ensued;  but  the 
Sabine  women  rushed  between  the  combatants,  and  a  lasting  peace  was  made, 
resulting  in  the  union  of  the  two  peoples.    M. 


164  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

safe  into  his  hands,  though  there  be  small  likelihood  she 
should  obtain  from  him  any  equitable  terms." 

The  words  of  Valeria  were  seconded  by  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  other  women,  to  which  Volumnia  made  an- 
swer:— 

"  I  and  Vergilia,  my  countrywomen,  have  an  equal  share 
with  you  all  in  the  common  miseries,  and  we  have  the 
additional  sorrow,  which  is  wholly  ours,  that  we  have  lost 
the  merit  and  good  fame  of  Marcius,  and  see  his  person 
confined,  rather  than  protected,  by  the  arms  of  the  enemy. 
Yet  I  account  this  the  greatest  of  all  misfortunes,  if  indeed 
the  affairs  of  Rome  be  sunk  to  so  feeble  a  state  as  to  have 
their  last  dependence  upon  us.  For  it  is  hardly  imagina- 
ble he  should  have  any  consideration  left  for  us,  when  he 
has  no  regard  for  the  country  which  he  was  wont  to  pre- 
fer before  his  mother  and  wife  and  children.  Make  use, 
however,  of  our  service ;  and  lead  us,  if  you  please,  to 
him;  we  are  able,  if* nothing  more,  at  least  to  spend  our 
last  breath  in  making  suit  to  him  for  our  country." 

Having  spoken  thus,  she  took  Vergilia  by  the  hand, 
and  the  young  children,  and  so  accompanied  them  to  the 
Volscian  camp.  So  lamentable  a  sight  much  affected  the 
enemies  themselves,  who  viewed  them  in  respectful  silence. 
Marcius  was  then  sitting  in  his  place,  with  his  chief 
officers  about  him,  and,  seeing  the  party  of  women  ad- 
vance toward  them,  wondered  what  should  be  the  matter; 
but  perceiving  at  length  that  his  mother  was  at  the  head 
of  them,  he  would  fain  have  hardened  himself  in  his 
former  inexorable  temper,  but,  overcome  by  his  feelings, 
and  confounded  at  what  he  saw,  he  did  not  endure  they 
should  approach  him  sitting  in  state,  but  came  down 
hastily  to  meet  them,  saluting  his  mother  first,  and  em- 
bracing her  a  long  time,  and  then  his  wife  and  children, 


CORIOLANUS.  165 

sparing  neither  tears  nor  caresses,  but  suffering  himself  to 
be  borne  away  and  carried  headlong,  as  it  were,  by  the 
impetuous  violence  of  his  passion. 

When  he  had  satisfied  himself,  and  observed  that  his 
mother  Volumnia  was  desirous  to  say  something,  the  Vol- 
scian  council  being  first  called  in,  he  heard  her  to  the 
following  effect:  "Our  dress  and  our  very  persons,  my 
son,  might  tell  you,  though  we  should  say  nothing  our- 
selves, in  how  forlorn  a  condition  we  have  lived  at  home 
since  your  banishment  and  absence  from  us;  and  now 
consider  with  yourself,  whether  we  may  not  pass  for  the 
most  unfortunate  of  all  women,  to  have  that  sight,  which 
should  be  the  sweetest  that  we  could  see,  converted, 
through  I  know  not  what  fatality,  to  one  of  all  others  the 
most  formidable  and  dreadful,  —  Volumnia  to  behold  her 
son,  and  Vergilia  her  husband,  in  arms  against  the  walls 
of  Rome.  Even  prayer  itself,  whence  others  gain  com- 
fort and  relief  in  all  manner  of  misfortunes,  is  that  which 
most  adds  to  our  confusion  and  distress;  since  our  best 
wishes  are  inconsistent  with  themselves,  nor  can  we  at  the 
same  time  petition  the  gods  for  Rome's  victory  and  your 
preservation,  but  what  the  worst  of  our  enemies  would 
imprecate  as  a  curse,  is  the  very  object  of  our  vows. 
Your  wife  and  children  are  under  the  sad  necessity,  that 
they  must  either  be  deprived  of  you,  or  of  their  native 
soil.  As  for  myself,  I  am  resolved  not  to  wait  till  war 
shall  determine  this  alternative  for  me;  but  if  I  cannot 
prevail  with  you  to  prefer  amity  and  concord  to  quarrel 
and  hostility,  and  to  be  the  benefactor  to  both  parties, 
rather  than  the  destroyer  of  one  of  them,  be  assured  of 
this  from  me,  and  reckon  steadfastly  upon  it,  that  you 
shall  not  be  able  to  reach  your  country,  unless  you  tram- 


166  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

pie  first  upon  the  corpse  of  her  that  brought  you  into 
life.  For  it  will  be  ill  in  me  to  wait  and  loiter  in  the 
world  till  the  day  come  wherein  I  shall  see  a  child  of 
mine,  either  led  in  triumph  by  his  own  countrymen,  or 
triumphing  over  them.  Did  I  require  you  to  save  your 
country  by  ruining  the  Volscians,  then,  I  confess,  my  son, 
the  case  would  be  hard  for  you  to  solve.  It  is  base  to 
bring  destitution  on  our  fellow-citizens;  it  is  unjust  to 
betray  those  who  have  placed  their  confidence  in  us.  But, 
as  it  is,  we  do  but  desire  a  deliverance  equally  expedient 
for  them  and  us;  only  more  glorious  and  honorable  on 
the  Volscian  side,  who,  as  superior  in  arms,  will  be 
thought  freely  to  bestow  the  two  greatest  of  blessings, 
peace  and  friendship,  even  when  they  themselves  receive 
the  same.  If  we  obtain  these,  the  common  thauks  will 
be  chiefly  due  to  you  as  the  principal  cause ;  but  if  they 
be  not  granted,  you  alone  must  expect  to  bear  the  blame 
from  both  nations.  The  chance  of  all  war  is  uncertain, 
yet  thus  much  is  certain  in  the  present,  that  you,  by  con- 
quering Rome,  will  only  get  the  reputation  of  having 
undone  your  country ;  but  if  the  Volscians  happen  to  be 
defeated  under  your  conduct,  then  the  world  will  say, 
that,  to  satisfy  a  revengeful  humor,  you  brought  misery 
on  your  friends  and  patrons." 

Marcius  listened  to  his  mother  while  she  spoke,  without 
answering  her  a  word ;  and  Volumnia,  seeing  him  stand 
mute  also  for  a  long  time  after  she  had  ceased,  resumed : 
"  O  my  son,"  said  she,  "  what  is  the  meaning  of  this 
silence  ?  Is  it  a  duty  to  postpone  everything  to  a  sense 
of  injuries,  and  wrong  to  gratify  a  mother  in  a  request 
like  this?  Is  it  the  characteristic  of  a  great  man  to 
remember  wrongs  that  have  been  done  him,  and  not  the 


COHIOLANtJS.  167 

part  of  a  great  and  good  man  to  remember  benefits  such 
as  those  that  children  receive  from  parents,  and  to  requite 
them  with  honor  and  respect?  You,  methinks,  who  are 
so  relentless  in  the  punishment  of  the  ungrateful,  should 
not  be  more  careless  than  others  to  be  grateful  yourself. 
You  have  punished  your  country  already ;  you  have  not  yet 
paid  your  debt  to  me.  Nature  and  religion,  surely,  unat- 
tended by  any  constraint,  should  have  won  your  consent 
to  petitions  so  worthy  and  so  just  as  these ;  but  if  it  must 
be  so,  I  will  even  use  my  last  resource."  Having  said 
this,  she  threw  herself  down  at  his  feet,  as  did  also  his 
wife  and  children ;  upon  which  Marcius,  crying  out,  "  O 
mother!  what  is  it  you  have  done  to  me?"  raised  her  up 
from  the  ground,  and  pressing  her  right  hand  with  more 
than  ordinary  vehemence,  "  You  have  gained  a  victory," 
said  he,  "  fortunate  enough  for  the  Romans,  but  destruc- 
tive to  your  son ;  whom  you,  though  none  else,  have 
defeated."  After  which,  and  a  little  private  conference 
with  his  mother  and  his  wife,  he  sent  them  back  again  lo 
Rome,  as  they  desired  of  him. 

The  next  morning,  he  broke  up  his  camp,  and  led  the 
Volscians  homeward,  variously  affected  with  what  he  had 
done;  some  of  them  complaining  of  him  and  condemning 
his  act,  others,  who  were  inclined  to  a  peaceful  conclusion, 
unfavorable  to  neither.  A  third  party,  while  much  dis- 
liking his  proceedings,  yet  could  not  look  upon  Marcius 
as  a  treacherous  person,  but  thought  it  pardonable  in 
him  to  be  thus  shaken  and  driven  to  surrender  at  last, 
under  such  compulsion.  None,  however,  opposed  his 
commands ;  they  all  obediently  followed  him,  though 
rather  from  admiration  of  his  virtue,  than  any  regard 
they  now  had  to  his  authority.     The  Roman  people,  mean- 


168  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

time,  more  effectually  manifested  how  much  fear  and 
danger  they  had  been  in  while  the  war  lasted,  by  their 
deportment  after  they  were  freed  from  it.  Those  that 
guarded  the  walls  had  no  sooner  given  notice  that  the 
Volscians  were  dislodged  and  drawn  off,  but  they  set 
open  all  their  temples  in  a  moment,  and  began  to  crown 
themselves  with  garlands  and  prepare  for  sacrifice,  as  they 
were  wont  to  do  upon  tidings  brought  of  any  signal 
victory.  But  the  joy  and  transport  of  the  whole  city  was 
chiefly  remarkable  in  the  honors  and  marks  of  affection 
paid  to  the  women,  as  well  by  the  senate  as  the  people  in 
general;  every  one  declaring  that  they  were,  beyond  all 
question,  the  instruments  of  the  public  safety.  And  the 
senate  having  passed  a  decree  that  whatsoever  they  would 
ask  in  the  way  of  any  favor  or  honor  should  be  allowed 
and  done  for  them  by  the  magistrates,  they  demanded 
simply  that  a  temple  might  be  erected  to  Female  Fortune, 
the  expense  of  which  they  offered  to  defray  out  of  their 
own  contributions,  if  the  city  would  be  at  the  cost  of 
sacrifices,  and  other  matters  pertaining  to  the  due  honor 
of  the  gods,  out  of  the  common  treasury.  The  senate, 
much  commending  their  public  spirit,  caused  the  temple 
to  be  built  and  a  statue  set  up  in  it  at  the  public  charge. 

When  Marcius  came  back  to  Antium,  Tullus,  who  thor- 
oughly hated  and  greatly  feared  him,  proceeded  at  once 
to  contrive  how  he  might  immediately  despatch  him ;  as, 
if  he  escaped  now,  he  was  never  likely  to  give  him  such 
another  advantage.  Having,  therefore,  got  together  and 
suborned  several  partisans  against  him,  he  required  Mar- 
cius to  resign  his  charge,  and  give  the  Volscians  an  ac- 
count of  his  administration.     He,  apprehending  the  danger 

Suborn  :  to  employ  a  person  to  give  false  testimony. 


CORIOLANUS.  169 

of  a  private  condition,  while  Tullus  held  the  office  of  gen-^ 
eral  and  exercised  the  greatest  power  among  his  fellows- 
citizens,  made  answer,  that  he  was  ready  to  lay  down  his 
commission,  whenever  those  from  whose  common  author- 
ity he  had  received  it,  should  think  fit  to  recall  it,  and 
that  in  the  mean  time  he  was  ready  to  give  the  Antiates 
satisfaction,  as  to  all  particulars  of  his  conduct,  if  they 
were  desirous  of  it. 

An  assembly  was  called,  and  popular  speakers,  as  had 
been  concerted,  came  forward  to  exasperate  and  incense 
the  multitude ;  but  when  Marcius  stood  up  to  answer,  the 
more  unruly  and  tumultuous  part  of  the  people  became 
quiet  on  a  sudden,  and  out  of  reverence  allowed  him  to 
speak  without  the  least  disturbance ;  while  all  the  better 
people,  and  such  as  were  satisfied  with  a  peace,  made  it 
evident  by  their  whole  behavior,  that  they  would  give 
him  a  favorable  hearing,  and  judge  and  pronounce  accord- 
ing to  equity. 

Tullus,  therefore,  began  to  dread  the  issue  of  the  defence 
he  was  going  to  make  for  himself;  for  he  was  an  admira- 
ble speaker,  and  the  former  services  he  had  done  the  Vol- 
scians  had  procured  and  still  preserved  for  him  greater 
kindness  than  could  be  outweighed  by  any  blame  for  his 
late  conduct.  Indeed,  the  very  accusation  itself  was  a 
proof  and  testimony  of  the  greatness  of  his  merits,  since 
people  could  never  have  complained  or  thought  them- 
selves wronged,  because  Rome  was  not  brought  into  their 
power,  but  that  by  his  means  they  had  come  so  near  to 
taking  it.  For  these  reasons,  the  conspirators  judged  it 
prudent  not  to  make  any  further  delays,  nor  to  test  the 
general  feeling;  but  the  boldest  of  their  faction,  crying 

Faction  :  a  party  acting  in  opposition  to  those  in  authority. 


170  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

out  that  they  ought  not  to  listen  to  a  traitor,  nor  allow 
him  still  to  retain  office  and  play  the  tyrant  among  them, 
fell  upon  Marcius  in  a  body,  and  slew  him  there,  none  of 
those  that  were  present  offering  to  defend  him.  But  it 
quickly  appeared  that  the  action  was  in  nowise  approved 
by  the  majority  of  the  Volscians,  who  hurried  out  of  their 
several  cities  to  show  respect  to  his  corpse ;  to  which  they 
gave  honorable  interment,  adorning  his  sepulchre  with 
arms  and  trophies,  as  the  monument  of  a  noble  hero  and  a 
famous  general.  When  the  Romans  heard  tidings  of  his 
death,  they  gave  no  other  signification  either  of  honor  or 
of  anger  towards  him,  but  simply  granted  the  request  of 
the  women,  that  they  might  put  themselves  into  mourn- 
ing and  bewail  him  for  ten  months,  as  the  usage  was  upon 
the  loss  of  a  father  or  a  son  or  a  brother. 

Marcius  was  no  sooner  deceased,  but  the  Volscians  felt 
the  need  of  his  assistance.  They  quarrelled  first  with  the 
^quians,  their  confederates  and  their  friends,  about  the 
appointment  of  the  general  of  their  joint  forces,  and  car- 
ried their  dispute  to  the  length  of  bloodshed  and  slaugh- 
ter ;  and  were  then  defeated  by  the  Romans  in  a  pitched 
battle,  where  not  only  Tullus  lost  his  life,  but  the  principal 
flower  of  their  whole  army  was  cut  in  pieces ;  so  that  they 
were  forced  to  submit  and  accept  of  peace  upon  very  dis- 
honorable terms,  becoming  subjects  of  Rome,  and  pledging 
themselves  to  submission. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  FABTUS. 

We  have  seen,  in  the  story  of  Coriolanus,  how  the  patri- 
cians and  plebeians  were  not  like  fellow-countrymen,  but 
hated  each  other  as  if  they  had  been  foreign  enemies.  And 
so  it  went  on  for  a  hundred  years,  all  the  time  with  wrang- 
ling, rioting,  assassination,  and  even  civil  war.  But  the 
plebeians  were  constantly  growing  stronger,  and  forced 
the  patricians  to  give  up  their  exclusive  privileges  one  by 
one,  till  at  last  the  plebeians  had  just  about  the  same 
rights  as  the  patricians.  And  indeed  the  rich  plebeians 
joined  with  the  patricians  to  form  a  new  aristocracy,  called 
the  nobility.  So,  after  this,  instead  of  Patricians^  the 
ruling  class  in  Rome  were  called  Nobles,  At  the  same 
time,  when  the  strife  between  patricians  and  plebeians  had 
ceased,  the  city  became  so  rich  and  prosperous,  and  made 
such  great  and  rapid  conquests,  that  the  poor  people  too 
became  thriving  and  contented,  and  for  a  long  time  there 
was  good  feeling  and  good  order. 

The  first  important  conquest  they  made  was  of  the  great 
Etruscan  city  of  Veii,  only  ten  miles  away,  north  of  the 
Tiber.  By  this  conquest  they  nearly  doubled  their  terri- 
tory. And  now  Rome  was  so  strong  that  it  was  able  to 
make  itself  the  master  of  the  cities  of  the  Latin  League, 
instead  of  their  leader^  as  it  had  been.  So  the  Latin 
League  was  broken  to  pieces,  and  Rome  ruled  all  the 
coast,  from  the  river  Tiber  as  far  as  Campania. 

Campania  is  a  beautiful  country,  wonderfully  fertile, 
between  the  coast  and  the  mountains,  upon  the   Bay  of 


172  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Naples.  Its  chief  city  now  is  Naples,  but  in  ancient  times 
it  was  Capua,  upon  the  river  Volturnus,  a  few  miles  from 
the  coast.  Capua  was  a  very  large  and  rich  city,  perhaps 
even  larger  than  Rome  at  this  time,  and  afterwards  rank- 
ing next  to  Rome.  It  had  been  conquered  by  the  Sam- 
nites,  a  powerful  and  warlike  nation  who  lived  in  the  high 
mountain  region  of  central  Italy,  north  and  east  of  Cam- 
pania ;  and  thus  by  the  conquest  of  Latium,  the  territory 
of  the  Romans  came  to  border  upon  that  of  the  Samnites. 

The  Samnites  were,  next  to  Rome,  the  most  powerful 
nation  of  Italy;  for  the  Etruscans,  who  had  once  been  the 
most  powerful,  were  now  weak  and  decaying,  It  did  not 
take  much  provocation  in  those  days  to  set  two  neighbor- 
ing nations  to  fighting;  and  a  long  series  of  wars  now 
began,  known  as  the  Samnite  Wars,  which  lasted,  with 
some  intervals,  more  than  fifty  years.  In  each  of  these 
wars  the  Romans  came  off  victorious,  and  in  each  treaty 
of  peace  they  gained  some  new  territory,  until  at  last  they 
were  masters  of  all  Italy,  just  as  they  had  been  of  Latium. 
But  we  must  not  understand  that  they  ruled  the  whole  of 
Italy,  just  as  they  did  the  whole  of  Latium.  A  great  deal 
of  territory  was  conquered  and  made  a  part  of  the  Roman 
Empire ;  but  about  half  the  Italian  towns  remained  nomi- 
nally independent.  They  were  called  Allies^  and  governed 
themselves  in  all  things,  except  that  they  were  obliged  to 
contribute  troops  to  the  Roman  armies. 

After  the  Romans  had  in  this  way  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  all  Italy,  they  were  tempted  into  a  war  for  the 
possession  of  Sicily,  an  island  lying  close  to  Italy,  and 
separated  from  it  by  a  very  narrow  strait.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful and  fertile  island,  and  had  been  colonized  by  the  Greeks 
several  hundred  years  before.     The  Greeks   had    at   the 


FABIUS.  173 

same  time  established  so  many  and  so  flourishing  colonies 
on  the  southern  coast  of  Italy,  that  those  colonies  (both  in 
Italy  and  Sicily)  were  called  Gireat  G-reece.  The  largest 
Greek  city  in  Italy  was  Tarentum,  and  this  was  the  third 
city  in  Italy,  ranking  next  to  Rome  and  Capua.  But  the 
greatest  of  all  the  cities  of  Great  Greece  was  Syracuse  in 
Sicily,  which  now  ruled  all  the  eastern  half  of  Sicily.  The 
western  part  had  been  conquered  by  Carthage,  a  city  in 
Africa,  close  by  the  modern  city  of  Tunis. 

Carthage  was  at  this  time  the  chief  commercial  city  in 
the  world.  It  was  a  colony  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  therefore  of  the  same  race  as  the  Hebrews 
and  Arabians,  the  Semitic  race.  The  Phoenicians  were  the 
most  commercial  people  of  antiquity,  and  their  colony, 
Carthage,  outstripped  the  mother  country  in  power  and 
commercial  enterprise.  The  Carthaginians  carried  on 
trade  in  all  the  western  part  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  had 
got  possession  of  all  the  islands  in  this  part  of  the  Medi- 
terranean except  the  eastern  portion  of  Sicily,  which  be- 
longed to  Syracuse.  Now,  just  as  the  Romans  had  begun 
to  fight  with  the  Samnites  for  the  possession  of  Italy,  as 
soon  as  their  empire  touched  that  of  the  Samnites,  so,  as 
soon  as  they  had  got  the  whole  of  Italy,  they  began  to 
fight  with  their  new  neighbors,  the  Carthaginians,  for  the 
possession  of  Sicily.  The  wars  with  Carthage  were  called 
Punic  wars,  Punic  being  the  Roman  way  of  saying  Phoeni- 
cian, The  First  Punic  War  began  264  years  before  Christ, 
and  lasted  twenty-three  years. 

The  result  of  the  First  Punic  War  was  that  the  Cartha- 
ginians gave  up  their  half  of  Sicily,  which  the  Romans 
now  governed  as  a  province.  Shortly  afterwards  the 
Romans  took  advantage  of  a  favorable  opportunity,  and 


174  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

dishonorably  seized  the  islands  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica, 
which  they  made  into  a  second  province.  The  Carthagin- 
ians were  very  indignant  at  this,  as  they  had  a  good  right 
to  be,  but  they  could  neither  prevent  it  nor  revenge  them- 
selves, because  they  had  been  so  weakened  by  the  war. 
But  they  set  themselves,  like  sensible  people,  to  acquire 
new  possessions  in  the  place  of  those  which  they  had  lost ; 
and  for  this  purpose  their  great  general  and  statesman 
Hamilcar  founded  the  colony  of  New  Carthage  in  Spain, 
and  soon  succeeded  in  building  up  a  large  trade  and  an 
extensive  empire  in  Spain.  After  Hamilcar  died,  his  son 
Hannibal  became  governor  of  these  Spanish  possessions. 

The  Romans  were  very  uneasy  at  seeing  this,  for  they 
knew  that  as  soon  as  the  Carthaginians  should  be  strong 
enough,  they  would  try  to  get  back  the  stolen  possessions. 
But  they  were  much  occupied  at  this  time  in  subdu- 
ing the  Gallic  tribes  and  other  nations  of  northern  Italy, 
and  could  not  do  anything  directly  to  check  the  advance 
of  the  Carthaginians  in  Spain.  They  made  a  treaty,  how- 
ever, in  which  the  Carthaginians  agreed  not  to  cross  the 
river  Iberus  (^Ehro)^  and  not  to  disturb  the  Greek  city  of 
Saguntum,  which  was  in  alliance  with  Rome.  Of  course 
neither  party  had  any  intention  of  observing  the  treaty 
any  longer  than  should  be  convenient;  and  as  soon  as 
Hannibal  thought  that  he  was  strong  enough,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  conquer  Saguntum,  and  then  set  out  at  once  to 
cross  the  Ebro  and  march  to  Italy.  He  began  his  march 
in  the  year  218,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  Second 
Punic  War;  so  the  interval  between  the  first  and  second 
Punic  wars  was  just  the  same  as  the  length  of  the  first 
war  —  twenty-three  years. 

After  crossing  the  river  Ebro,  Hannibal  made  his  way 


FABIUS.  175 

over  the  Pyrenees  Mountains,  along  the  coast  of  Gaul, 
and  over  the  Alps,  which  he  crossed  by  the  pass  of  the 
Little  St.  Bernard,  just  south  of  Mont  Blanc.  Northern^ 
Italy  was  occupied  by  Gallic  tribes,  which  had  only  just 
been  conquered  by  the  Romans,  and  when  Hannibal 
appeared  among  them,  these  Gauls  hastened  to  join  them- 
selves to  him,  thinking  that  in  this  way  they  could  rid 
themselves  of  the  Roman  yoke.  This  was  what  Hannibal 
expected,  and  i^  thfe  he  was  not  disappointed.  But  he  had 
not  realized  how  much  more  steep  and  difficult  the  Alps 
were  than  any  mountains  he  had  ever  seen  before.  His 
army  suffered  terribly  in  the  passage,  and  reached  Italy  not 
only  much  fatigued  and  exhausted,  but  having  lost  more 
than  half  its  numbers.  Probably  his  losses  by  the  march 
more  than  balanced  the  assistance  he  received  from  the 
Gauls. 

Another  point  in  which  Hannibal's  calculations  were  at 
fault  will  appear  in  the  life  of  Fabius.  He  knew  that  the 
Romans  had  established  their  power  in  Italy  by  long  and 
hard-fought  wars;  and  he  thought  that  the  conquered 
Italians  would  gather  around  him  as  their  deliverer,  just 
as  the  Gauls  had  done.  But  the  Italian  towns  had  been 
left  to  govern  themselves  in  all  their  internal  affairs,  and 
the  Roman  rule  was  on  the  whole  so  just  and  fair,  that 
'there  was  no  disposition  to  exchange  it  for  that  of  foreign- 
ers. Hannibal  was,  however,  so  skilful  a  general,  that  he 
defeated  the  Romans  in  one  battle  after  another,  each  vic- 
tory being  more  decisive  than  the  last,  until  it  seemed 
that  nothing  could  stand  against  him.  It  was  when 
things  were  in  this  shape  that  Fabius  Maximus  was  ap- 
pointed Dictator,  and  took  command  against  him. 


176  PLUTAKCH'S  LIVES. 


FABIUS. 


XpABIUS,  who  bore  the  honorable  surname  of  Maximus, 
-*-  was  in  his  childhood  called  The  Lamb,  on  account  of 
his  extreme  mildness  of  temper.  His  slowness  in  speaking, 
his  long  labor  and  pains  in  learning,  his  deliberation  in 
entering  into  the  sports  of  other  children,  his  easy  submis- 
sion to  everybody,  as  if  he  had  no  will  of  his  own,  made 
those  who  judged  superficially  of  him,  the  greater  number, 
esteem  him  insensible  and  stupid ;  and  few  only  saw  that 
this  tardiness  proceeded  from  stability,  and  discerned  the 
greatness  of  his  mind,  and  the  lionlikeness  of  his'temper. 
But  as  soon  as  he  came  into  employments,  his  virtues 
exerted  and  showed  themselves ;  his  reputed  want  of 
energy  then  was  recognized  by  people  in  general,  as  a 
freedom  from  passion ;  his  slowness  in  words  and  actions, 
the  effect  of  a  true  prudence ;  his  Want  of  rapidity,  and 
his  sluggishness,  as  constancy  and  firmness. 

Living  in  a  great  commonwealth,  surrounded  by  many 
enemies,  he  saw  the  wisdom  of  inuring  his  body  (nature's 
own  weapon)  to  warlike  exercises,  and  disciplining  his 
tongue  for  public  oratory  in  a  style  conformable  to  his 
life  and  character.  His  eloquence,  indeed,  had  not  much 
of  popular  ornament,  nor  empty  artifice,  but  there  was  in 
it  great  weight  of  sense;  it  was  strong  and  sententious, 
much  after  the  way  of  Thucydides.  We  have  yet  extant 
his  funeral  oration  upon  the  death  of  his  son,  who  died 
consul,  which  he  recited  before  the  people. 


FABIUS.  •    177 

He  was  five  times  consul,  and  in  his  first  consulship 
had  the  honor  of  a  triumph  for  the  victory  he  gained  over 
the  Ligurians,  whom  he  defeated  in  a  set  battle,  and  drove 
them  to  take  shelter  m  the  Alps,  from  whence  they  never 
after  made  any  inroad  nor  depredation  upon  their  neigh- 
bors. After  this,  Hannibal  came  into  Italy,  ^dtST  at  his 
first  entrance,  having  gained  a  great  battle  near  the  river 
Trebia,  traversed  all  Tuscany  with  his  victorious  army, 
and,  desolating  the  country  round  about,  filled  Rome  itself 
with  astonishment  and  terror.  Besides  the  more  common 
signs  of  thunder  and  lightning  then  happening,  the  report 
of  several  unheard  of  and  utterly  strange  portents 
much  increased  the  popular  consternation.  For  it  was 
said  that  some  targets  sweated  blood;  that  at  Antium, 
when  Ihey  reaped  their  corn,  many  of  the  ears  were  filled 
with  blood;  that  it  had  rained  red-hot  stones;  that  the 
Falerians  had  seen  the  heavens  open  and  several  scrolls 
falling  down,  in  one  of  which  was  plainly  written,  "  Mars 
himself  stirs  his  arms."  But  these  prodigies  had  no  effect 
upon  the  impetuous  and  fiery  temper  of  the  consul  Fla- 
minius,  whose  natural  promptness  had  been  much  height- 
ened by  his  late  unexpected  victory  over  the  Gauls,  when 
he  fought  them  contrary  to  the  order  of  the  senate  and  the 
advice  of  his  colleague.  Fabius,  on  the  other  side,  thought 
it  not  seasonable  to  engage  with  the  enemy ;  not  that  he 
much  regarded  the  prodigies,  which  he  thought  too  strange 
to  be  easily  understood,  though  many  were  alarmed  by 
them ;  but  in  regard  that  the  Carthaginians  were  but  few. 

Triumph:  an  imposing  procession  in  honor  of  a  victorious  general.  The 
victor,  with  a  sceptre  in  one  hand  and  a  laurel-branch  in  the  other,  rode  in  a 
circular  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses,  preceded  by  the  senate  and  magistrates, 
musicians,  spoils,  and  captives  in  fetters,  and  followed  by  his  army  on  foot  in 
marching  order. 


178  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

and  in  want  of  money  and  supplies,  he  deemed  it  best  not 
to  meet  in  the  field  a  general  whose  army  had  been  tried 
in  many  encounters,  and  whose  object  was  a  battle,  but  to 
send  aid  to  their  allies,  control  the  movements  of  the 
various  subject  cities,  and  let  the  force  and  vigor  of  Han- 
nibal waste  away  and  expire,  like  a  flame,  for  want  of 
aliment. 

These  weighty  reasons  did  not  prevail  with  Flaminius, 
who  protested  he  would  never  suffer  the  advance  of  the 
enemy  to  the  city,  nor  be  reduced,  like  Camillus  in  former 
time,  to  fight  for  Rome  within  the  walls  of  Rome.  Ac- 
cordingly he  ordered  the  tribunes  to  draw  out  the  army 
into  the  field;  and  though  he  himself,  leaping  on  horse- 
back to  go  out,  was  no  sooner  mounted  but  the  beast, 
without  any  apparent  cause,  fell  into  so  violent  a  fit  of 
trembling  and  bounding  that  he  cast  his  rider  headlong 
on  the  ground,  he  w^as  no  ways  deterred;  but  proceeded 
as  he  had  begun,  and  marched  forward  up  to  Hannibal, 
who  was  posted  near  the  Lake  Thrasymene  in  Tuscany. 
At  the  moment  of  this  engagement,  there  happened  so 
great  an  earthquake,  that  it  destroyed  several  towns, 
altered  the  course  of  rivers,  and  carried  off  parts  of  high 
cliffs,  yet  such  was  the  eagerness  of  the  combatants,  that 
they  were  entirely  insensible  of  it. 

In  this  battle  Flaminius  fell,  after  many  proofs  of  his 
strength  and  courage,  and  round  about  him  all  the 
bravest  of  the  army ;  in  the  whole,  fifteen  thousand  were 
killed,  and  as  many  made  prisoners.  Hannibal,  desirous 
to  bestow  funeral  honors  upon  the  body  of  Flaminius, 
made  diligent  search  after  it,  but  could  not  find  it  among 
the  dead,  nor  was  it  ever  known  what  became  of  it. 
Upon  the   former  engagement  near  Trebia,  neither  the 


FABIUS.  179 

general  who  wrote,  nor  the  express  who  told  the  news, 
used  straightforward  and  direct  terms,  nor  related  it  other- 
wise than  as  a  drawn  battle,  with  equal  loss  on  either 
side;  but  on  this  occasion,  as  soon  as  Pomponius  the 
praetor  had  the  intelligence,  he  caused  the  people  to  as- 
semble, and,  without  disguising  or  dissembling  the  matter, 
told  them  plainly,  "  We  are  beaten,  O  Romans,  in  a  great 
battle ;  the  consul  Flaminius  is  killed ;  think,  therefore, 
what  is  to  be  done  for  your  safety."  Letting  loose  his 
news  like  a  gale  of  wind  upon  an  open  sea,  he  threw  the 
city  into  utter  confusion :  in  such  consternation,  their 
thoughts  found  no  support  or  stay.  The  danger  at  hand 
at  last  awakened  their  judgments  into  a  resolution  to 
choose  a  dictator,  who,  by  the  sovereign  authority  of  his 
office,  and  by  his  personal  wisdom  and  courage,  might  be 
able  to  manage  the  public  affairs.  Their  choice  unani- 
mously fell  upon  Fabius,  whose  character  seemed  equal  to 
the  greatness  of  the  office ;  whose  age  was  so  far  advanced 
as  to  give  him  experience,  without  taking  from  him  the 
vigor  of  action;  his  body  could  execute  what  his  soul 
designed ;  and  his  temper  was  a  happy  compound  of  con- 
fidence and  cautiousness. 

Fabius,  being  thus  installed  in  the  office  of  dictator,  in 
the  first  place  gave  the  command  of  the  horse  to  Lucius 
Minucius  ;  and  next  asked  leave  of  the  senate  for  himself, 
that  in  time  of  battle  he  might  serve  on  horseback,  which 
by  an  ancient  law  amongst  the  Romans  was  forbid  to  their 
generals;  whether  it  were,  that,  placing  their  greatest 
strength  in  their  foot-soldiers,  they  would  have  their  com- 
manders-in-chief posted  amongst  them,  or  else  to  let  them 

Praetor  :  a  civil  officer  whose  duties  were  similar  to  those  of  a  judge  at  the 
present  day. 


180  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

know,  that,  how  great  and  absolute  soever  their  authority 
were,  the  people  and  senate  were  still  their  masters,  of 
whom  they  must  ask  leave.  Fabius,  however,  to  make 
the  authority  of  his  charge  more  observable,  and  to  render 
the  people  more  submissive  and  obedient  to  him,  caused 
himself  to  be  accompanied  with  the  full  body  of  four  and 
twenty  lictors  ;  and,  when  the  surviving  consul  came  to 
visit  hirn,  sent  him  word  to  dismiss  his  lictors  with  their 
fasces,  the  ensigns  of  authority,  and  appear  before  him  as 
a  private  person. 

The  first  solemn  action  of  his  dictatorship  was  very 
fitly  a  religious  one :  an  admonition  to  the  people,  that 
their  late  overthrow  had  not  befallen  them  through  want 
of  courage  in  their  soldiers,  but  through  the  neglect  of 
divine  ceremonies  in  the  general.  He  therefore  exhorted 
them  not  to  fear  the  enemy,  but  by  extraordinary  honor 
to  propitiate  the  gods.  This  he  did,  not  to  fill  their  minds 
with  superstition,  but  by  religious  feeling  to  raise  their 
courage,  and  lessen  their  fear  of  the  enemy  by  inspiring 
the  belief  that  Heaven  was  on  their  side. 

In  this  manner  Fabius  having  given  the  people  better 
heart  for  the  future,  by  making  them  believe  that  the 
gods  took  their  side,  for  his  own  part  placed  his  whole 
confidence  in  himself,  believing  that  the  gods  bestowed 
victory  and  good  fortune  by  the  instrumentality  of  valor 
and  of  prudence ;  and  thus  prepared,  he  set  forth  to  op- 
pose Hannibal,  not  with  intention  to  fight  him,  but  with 
the  purpose  of  wearing  out  and  wasting  the  vigor  of  his 

Lictors  :  officers  attending  upon  the  chief  magistrates. 

Fasces  (fas'sez) :  a  bundle  of  rods  with  an  axe  bound  in  with  them.  They 
were  carried  by  the  lictors  before  the  superior  Roman  magistrates,  as  a  badge 
of  their  power  over  life  and  limb. 

To  propitiate  :  to  render  favorable. 


FABIUS.  181 

arms  by  lapse  of  time,  and  gradually  to  destroy  him  by 
means  of  his  superiority  in  men  and  money.  With  this 
design,  he  always  encamped  on  the  highest  grounds, 
where  tl^  enemy's  horse  could  have  no  access  to  him. 
Still  he  kept  pace  with  them ;  when  they  marched  he 
followed  them ;  when  they  encamped  he  did  the  same, 
but  at  such  a  distance  as  not  to  be  compelled  to  an 
engagement,  and  always  keeping  upon  the  hills,  free 
from  the  insults  of  their  horse;  by  which  means  he 
gave  them  no  rest,  but  kept  them  in  a  continual  alarm. 

But  this  his  dilatory  way  gave  occasion  in  his  own  camp 
for  suspicion  of  want  of  courage ;  and  this  opinion  pre- 
vailed yet  more  in  Hannibal's  army.  Hannibal  was  him- 
self the  only  man  who  was  not  deceived,  who  discerned 
his  skill  and  detected  his  tactics,  and  saw,  unless  he  could 
by  art  or  force  bring  him  to  battle,  that  the  Carthaginians, 
unable  to  use  the  arms  in  which  they  were  superior,  and 
suifering  the  continual  drain  of  lives  and  treasure  in  which 
they  were  inferior,  would  in  the  end  come  to  nothing. 
He  resolved,  therefore,  with  all  the  arts  and  subtilties  of 
war  to  break  his  measures,  and  to  bring  Fabius  to  an 
engagement;  like  a  cunning  wrestler,  watching  every 
opportunity  to  get  good  hold  and  close  with  his  adversary. 
He  at  one  time  attacked,  and  sought  to  distract  his  atten- 
tion, tried  to  draw  him  off  in  various  directions,  endeav- 
ored in  all  ways  to  tempt  him  from  his  safe  policy.  All 
this  artifice,  though  it  had  no  effect  upon  the  firm  judg- 
ment and  conviction  of  the  dictator,  yet  upon  the  common 
soldier  and  even  upon  the  general  of  the  horse  himself,  it 
had  too  great  an  operation  :  Minucius,  unseasonably  eager 
for  action,  bold  and  confident,  humored  the  soldiery,  and 
himself  contributed  to  fill  them  with  wild  eagerness  and 


182  PLUT ARCHES  LIVES. 

empty  hopes,  which  they  vented  in  reproaches  upon 
Fabius,  calling  him  Hannibal's  pedagogue,^  since  he  did 
nothing  else  but  follow  him  up  and  down  and  wait  upon 
him.  At  the  same  time,  they  cried  up  Minuciftis  for  the 
only  captain  worthy  to  command  the  Romans;  whose 
vanity  and  presumption  rose  so  high  in  consequence,  that 
he  insolently  jested  at  Fabius'  encampments  upon  the 
mountains,  saying  that  he  seated  them  there  as  on  a 
theatre,  to  behold  the  flames  and  desolation  of  their  coun- 
try. And  he  would  sometimes  ask  the  friends  of  the 
general,  whether  it  were  not  his  meaning,  by  thus  leading 
them  from  mountain  to  mountain,  to  carry  them  at  last 
(having  no  hopes  on  earth)  up  into  heaven,  or  to  hide 
them  in  the  clouds  from  Hannibal's  army  ?  When  his 
friends  reported  these  things  to  the  dictator,  persuading 
him  that,  to  avoid  the  general  obloquy,  he  should  engage 
the  enemy,  his  answer  was,  "  I  should  be  more  fainthearted 
than  they  make  me,  if,  through  fear  of  idle  reproaches, 
I  should  abandon  my  own  convictions.  It  is  no  inglorious 
thing  to  have  fear  for  the  safety  of  our  country,  but  to  be 
turned  from  one's  course  by  men's  opinions,  by  blame, 
and  by  misrepresentation,  shows  a  man  unfit  to  hold  an 
office  such  as  this,  which,  by  such  conduct,  he  makes  the 
slave  of  those  whose  errors  it  is  his  business  to  control." 

An  oversight  of  Hannibal  occurred  soon  after.  De- 
sirous to  refresh  his  horse  in  some  good  pasture-grounds, 
and  to  draw  off  his  army,  he  ordered  his  guides  to  conduct 
him  to  the  district  of  Casinum.  They,  mistaking  his  bad 
pronunciation,  led  him  and  his  army  to  the  town  of  Casil- 
inum,  on  the  frontier  of  Campania.  The  country  around 
is  enclosed  by  mountains,  with  a  valley  opening  towards 

1  Originally  a  slave  who  conducted  children  to  school. 


FABIUS. 


<^  ^  183 


the  sea,  in  which  the  river  overflowing  forms  a  quantity 
of  marsh  land  with  deep  banks  of  sand,  and  discharges 
itself  into  the  sea  on  a  very  unsafe  and  rough  shore. 
While  Hannibal  was  proceeding  hither,  Fabius,  by  his 
knowledge  of  the  roads,  succeeded  in  making  his  way 
around  before  him,  and  despatched  four  thousand  choice 
men  to  seize  the  exit  from  it  and  stop  him  up,  and  lodged 
the  rest  of  his  army  upon  the  neighboring  hills  in  the 
most  advantageous  places ;  at  the  same  time  detaching  a 
party  of  his  lightest  armed  men  to  fall  upon  Hannibal's 
rear ;  which  they  did  with  such  success,  that  they  cut  off 
eight  hundred  of  them,  and  put  the  whole  army  in  dis- 
order. Hannibal,  finding  the  error  and  the  danger  he 
was  fallen  into,  immediately  crucified  the  guides ;  but  con- 
sidered the  enemy  to  be  so  advantageously  posted,  that 
there  was  no  hopes  of  breaking  through  them  ;  while  his 
soldiers  began  to  be  despondent  and  terrified,  and  to 
think  themselves  surrounded  with  embarrassments  too 
difficult  to  be  surmounted. 

Thus  reduced,  Hannibal  had  recourse  to  stratagem  :  he 
caused  two  thousand  head  of  oxen  which  he  had  in  his 
camp,  to  have  torches  or  dry  fagots  well  fastened  to  their 
horns,  and  lighting  them  in  the  beginning  of  the  night, 
brdered  the  beasts  to  be  driven  on  towards  the  heights 
commanding  the  passages  out  of  the  valley  and  the  enemy's 
posts ;  when  this  was  done,  he  made  his  army  in  the  dark 
leisurely  march  after  them.  The  oxen  at  first  kept  a  slow, 
orderly  pace,  and  with  their  lighted  heads  resembled  an 
army  marching  by  night,  astonishing  the  shepherds  and 
herdsmen  of  the  hills  about.  But  when  the  fire  had  burnt 
down  the  horns  of  the  beasts  to  the  quick,  they  no  longer 
observed  their  sober  pace,  but,  unruly  and  wild  with  their 


184  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

pain,  ran  dispersed  about,  tossing  their  heads  and  scatter- 
ing the  fire  round  about  them  upon  each  other  and  setting 
light  as  they  passed  to  the  trees.  This  was  a  surprising 
spectacle  to  the  Romans  on  guard  upon  the  heights.  See- 
ing flames  which  appeared  to  come  from  men  advancing 
with  torches,  they  were  possessed  with  the  alarm  that  the 
enemy  was  approaching  in  various  quarters,  and  that  they 
were  being  surrounded;  and,  quitting  their  post,  aban- 
doned the  pass,  and  precipitately  retired  to  their  camp  on 
the  hills.  They  were  no  sooner  gone,  but  the  light-armed 
of  Hannibal's  men,  according  to  his  order,  immediately 
seized  the  heights,  and  soon  after  the  whole  army,  with  all 
the  baggage,  came  up  and  safely  marched  through  the 
passes. 

Fabius,  before  the  night  was  over,  quickly  found  out 
the  trick ;  for  some  of  the  beasts  fell  into  his  hands ;  but 
for  fear  of  an  ambush  in  the  dark,  he  kept  his  men  all 
night  to  their  arms  in  the  camp.  As  soon  as  it  was  day, 
he  attacked  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  where,  after  a  good 
deal  of  skirmishing  in  the  uneven  ground,  the  disorder 
might  have  become  general,  but  that  Hannibal  detached 
from  his  van  a  body  of  Spaniards,  who,  of  themselves  active 
and  nimble,  were  accustomed  to  the  climbing  of  mountains. 
These  briskly  attacked  the  Roman  troops  who  were  in 
heavy  armor,  killed  a  good  many,  and  left  Fabius  no  lon- 
ger in  condition  to  follow  the  enemy.  This  action  brought 
the  extreme  of  obloquy  and  contempt  upon  the  dictator; 
they  said  it  was  now  manifest  that  he  was  not  only  in- 
ferior to  his  adversary,  as  they  had  always  thought,  in 
courage,  but  even  in  that  conduct,  foresight,  and  general- 
ship, by  which  he  had  proposed  to  bring  the  war  to  an  end. 

Van  :  the  front  of  the  army. 


FABIUS.  185 

And  Hannibal,  to  enhance  their  anger  against  him, 
marched  with  his  army  close  to  the  lands  and  possessions 
of  Fabius,  and,  giving  orders  to  his  soldiers  to  burn  and 
destroy  all  the  country  about,  forbade  them  to  do  the 
least  damage  in  the  estates  of  the  Roman  general,  and 
placed  guards  for  their  security.  This,  when  reported  at 
Rome,  had  the  effect  with  the  people  which  Hannibal 
desired.  Their  tribunes  raised  a  thousand  stories  against 
him,  chiefly  at  the  instigation  of  Metilius,  who,  not  so 
much  out  of  hatred  to  him  as  out  of  friendship  to  Minu- 
cius,  whose  kinsman  he  was,  thought  by  depressing  Fabius 
to  raise  his  friend.  The  senate  on  their  part  were  also 
offended  with  him,  for  the  bargain  he  had  made  with 
Hannibal  about  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  the -conditions 
of  which  were,  that,  after  exchange  made  of  man  for 
man,  if  any  on  either'  side  remained,  they  should  be 
redeemed  at  the  price  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  drachmas 
a  head.  Upon  the  whole  account,  there  remained  two 
hundred  and  forty  Romans  unexchanged,  and  the  senate 
now  not  only  refused  to  allow  money  for  the  ransoms,  but 
also  reproached  Fabius  for  making  a  contract,  contrary  to 
the  honor  and  interest  of  the  commonwealth,  for  redeem- 
ing men  whose  cowardice  had  put  them  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  Fabius  heard  and  endured  all  this  with  in- 
vincible patience;  and,  having  no  money  by  him,  and  on 
the  other  side  being  resolved  to  keep  his  word  with  Han- 
nibal and  not  to  abandon  the  captives,  he  despatched  his 
son  to  Rome  to  sell  land,  and  to  bring  with  him  the  price, 
sufficient  to  discharge  the  ransoms ;  which  was  punctually 
performed  by  his  son,  and  delivery  accordingly  made  to 
him  of  the  prisoners,  amongst  whom  many,  when  they 
were  released,  made  proposals  to  repay  the  money;  which 
Fabius  in  all  cases  declined. 


186  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

About  this  lime,  he  was  called  to  Rome  by  the  priests, 
to  assist,  according  to  the  duty  of  his  office,  at  certain 
sacrifices,  and  was  thus  forced  to  leave  the  command  of 
the  army  with  Minucius ;  but  before  he  parted,  not  only 
charged  him  as  his  commander-in-chief,  but  besought  and 
entreated  him,  not  to  come,  in  his  absence,  to  a  battle 
with  Hannibal.  His  commands,  entreaties,  and  advice 
were  lost  upon  Minucius;  for  his  back  was  no  sooner 
turned  but  the  new  general  immediately  sought  occasions 
to  attack  the  enemy.  And  notice  being  brought  him  that 
Hannibal  had  sent  out  a  great  part  of  his  army  to  forage, 
he  fell  upon  a  detachment  of  the  remainder,  doing  great 
execution,  and  driving  them  to  their  very  camp,  with  no 
little  terror  to  the  rest,  who  apprehended  their  breaking 
in  upon  them  ;  and  when  Hannibal  had  recalled  his  scat- 
tered forces  to  the  camp,  he,  nevertheless,  without  any 
loss,  made  his  retreat,  a  success  which  aggravated  his 
boldness  and  presumption,  and  filled  the  soldiers  with 
rash  confidence.  The  news  spread  to  Rome,  where 
Fabius,  on  being  told  it,  said  tliat  what  he  most  feared 
was  Minucius'  success :  but  the  people,  highly  elated, 
hurried  to  the  forum  to  listen  to  an  address  from  Metilius 
the  tribune,  in  which  he  infinitely  extolled  the  valor  of 
Minucius,  and  fell  bitterly  upon  Fabius,  accusing  him  of  a 
want  not  merely  of  courage,  but  even  of  loyalty ;  and  not 
only  him,  but  also  many  other  eminent  and  considerable 
persons;  saying  that  it  was  they  that  had  brought  the 
Carthaginians  into  Italy,  with  the  design  to  destroy  the 
liberty  of  the  people ;  for  which  end  they  had  at  once 
put  the  supreme  authority  into  the  hands  of  a  single  per- 
son, who  by  his  slowness  and  delays  might  give  Hannibal 
leisure  to  establish  himself   in   Italy,  and  the  people  of 


FABIUS.  187 

Carthage  time  and  opportunity  to  supply  him  with  fresh 
succors  to  complete  his  conquest. 

Fabius  came  forward  with  no  intention  to  answer  the 
tribune,  but  only  said,  that  they  should  expedite  the 
sacrifices,  that  so  he  might  speedily  return  to  tlte  army 
to  punish  Minucius,  who  had  presumed  to  fight  contrary 
to  his  orders ;  words  which  immediately  possessed  the 
people  with  the  belief  that  Minucius  stood  in  danger  of 
his  life.  For  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  dictator  to 
imprison  and  to  put  to  death,  and  they  feared  that  Fabius, 
of  a  mild  temper  in  general,  would  be  as  hard  to  be  ap- 
peased when  once  irritated,  as  he  was  slow  to  be  provoked. 
Nobody  dared  to  raise  his  voice  in  opposition ;  Metilius 
alone,  whose  office  of  tribune  gave  him  security  to  say 
what  he  pleased  (for  in  the  time  of  a  dictatorship  that 
magistrate  alone  preserves  his  authority),  boldly  applied 
himself  to  the  people  in  the  behalf  of  Minucius:  that 
they  should  not  suffer  him  to  be  made  a  sacrifice  to  the 
enmity  of  Fabius,  nor  permit  him  to  be  destroyed,  like 
the  son  of  Manlius  Torquatus,  who  was  beheaded  by  his 
father  for  a  victory  fought  and  triumphantly  won  against 
order ;  he  exhorted  them  to  take  away  from  Fabius  that 
absolute  power  of  a  dictator,  and  to  put  it  into  more 
worthy  hands,  better  able  and  more  inclined  to  use  it  for 
the  public  good.  These  impressions  very  much  prevailed 
upon  the  people,  though  not  so  far  as  wholly  to  dispossess 
Fabius  of  the  dictatorship.  But  they  decreed  that  Minu- 
cius should  have  an  equal  authority  with  the  dictator  in 
the  conduct  of  the  war ;  which  was  a  thing  then  without 
precedent,  though  a  little  later  it  was  again  practised  after 
the  disaster  at  Cannae ;  when  the  dictator,  Marcus  Junius, 
being  with  the  army,  they  chose  at  Rome  Fabius  Buteo 


188  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

dictator,  that  he  might  create  new  senators,  to  supply  the 
numerous  places  of  those  who  were  killed.  But  as  soon 
as,  once  acting  in  public,  he  had  filled  those  vacant  places 
with  a  sufficient  number,  he  immediately  dismissed  his 
lictors^and  withdrew  from  all  his  attendance,  and,  min- 
gling like  a  common  person  with  the  rest  of  the  people, 
quietly  went  about  his  own  affairs  in  the  forum. 

The  enemies  of  Fabius  thought  they  had  sufficiently 
humiliated  and  subdued  him  by  raising  Minucius  to  be 
his  equal  in  authority ;  but  they  mistook  the  temper  of 
the  man  who  looked  upon  their  folly  as  not  his  loss,  but 
like  Diogenes,  who,  being  told  that  some  persons  derided 
him,  made  answer,  "  But  I  am  not  derided,"  meaning  that 
only  those  were  really  insulted  on  whom  such  insults 
made  an  impression,  so  Fabius,  with  great  tranquillity 
and  unconcern,  submitted  to  what  happened,  and  contrib- 
uted a  proof  to  the  argument  of  the  philosophers  that  a 
just  and  good  man  is  not  capable  of  being  dishonored. 
His  only  vexation  arose  from  his  fear  lest  this  ill  counsel, 
by  supplying  opportunities  to  the  diseased  military  ambi- 
tion of  his  subordinate,  should  damage  the  public  cause. 
Lest  the  rashness  of  Minucius  should  now  at  once  run 
headlong  into  some  disaster,  he  returned  with  all  privacy 
and  speed  to  the  army ;  where  he  found  Minucius  so  ele- 
vated with  his  new  dignity,  that,  a  joint-authority  not 
contenting  him,  he  required  by  turns  to  have  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  every  other  day.  This  Fabius  re- 
jected, but  was  contented  that  the  army  should  be 
divided ;  thinking  each  general  singly  would  better  com- 
mand his  part,  than  partially  command  the  whole.  The 
first  and  fourth  legion  he  took  for  his  own  division,  the 

Legion :  a  body  of  corps  of  soldiers  numbering  about  five  thousand. 


FABTUS.  189 

second  and  third  he  delivered  to  Minucius ;  so  also  of  the 
auxiliary  forces  each  had  an  equal  share. 

Minucius,  thus  exalted,  could  not  contain  himself  from 
boasting  of  his  success  in  humiliating  the  high  and  power- 
ful office  of  the  dictatorship.  Fabius  quietly  reminded 
him  that  it  was,  in  all  wisdom,  Hannibal,  and  not  Fabius, 
whom  he  had  to  combat ;  but  if  he  must  needs  contend 
with  his  colleague,  it  had  best  be  in  diligence  and  care  for 
the  preservation  of  Rome  ;  that  it  might  not  be  said,  a  man 
so  favored  by  the  people  served  them  worse  than  he  who 
had  been  ill-treated  and  disgraced  by  them. 

The  young  general,  despising  these  admonitions  as  the 
false  humility  of  age,  immediately  removed  with  the  body 
of  his  army,  and  encamped  by  himself.  Hannibal,  who 
was  not  ignorant  of  all  these  passages,  lay  watching  his 
advantage  from  them.  It  happened  that  between  his  army 
and  that  of  Minucius  there  was  a  certain  eminence,  which 
seemed  a  very  advantageous  and  not  difficult  post  to  en- 
camp upon ;  the  level  field  around  it  appeared,  from  a  dis- 
tance, to  be  all  smooth  and  even,  though  it  had  many 
inconsiderable  ditches  and  dips  in  it,  not  discernible  to  the 
eye.  Hannibal,  had  he  pleased,  could  easily  have  possessed 
himself  of  this  ground ;  but  he  had  reserved  it  for  a  bait, 
or  train,  in  proper  season,  to  draw  the  Romans  to  an  en- 
gagement. Now  that  Minucius  and  Fabius  were  divided, 
he  thought  the  opportunity  fair  for  his  purpose ;  and,  there- 
fore, having  in  the  night  time  lodged  a  convenient  num- 
ber of  his  men  in  these  ditches  and  hollow  places,  early  in 
the  morning  he  sent  forth  a  small  detachment,  who,  in  the 
sight  of  Minucius,  proceeded  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
rising  ground.  According  to  his  expectation,  Minucius 
swallowed  the  bait,  and  first  sends  out  his  light  troops. 


190  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

and  after  them  some  horse,  to  dislodge  the  enemy ;  and, 
at  last,  when  he  saw  Hannibal  in  person  advancing  to  the 
assistance  of  his  men,  marched  down  with  his  whole  army 
drawn  up.  He  engaged  with  the  troops  on  the  eminence, 
and  sustained  their  missiles ;  the  combat  for  some  time 
was  equal;  but  as  soon  as  Hannibal  perceived  that  the 
whole  army  was  now  sufficiently  advanced  within  the  toils 
he  had  set  for  them,  so  that  their  backs  were  open  to  his 
men  whom  he  had  posted  in  the  hollows,  he  gave  the  sig- 
nal; upon  which  they  rushed  forth  from  various  quarters, 
and  with  loud  cries  furiously  attacked  Minucius  in  the 
rear.  The  surprise  and  the  slaughter  was  great,  and  struck 
universal  alarm  and  disorder  through  the  whole  army. 
Minucius  himself  lost  all  his  confidence ;  he  looked  from 
officer  to  officer,  and  found  all  alike  unprepared  to  face  the 
danger,  and  yielding  to  a  flight,  which,  however,  could 
not  end  in  safety.  The  Numidian  horsemen  were  already 
in  full  victory  riding  about  the  plain,  cutting  down  the 
fugitives. 

Fabius  was  not  ignorant  of  this  danger  of  his  country- 
men ;  he  foresaw  what  would  happen  from  the  rashness  of 
Minucius,  and  the  cunning  of  Hannibal;  and,  therefore, 
kept  his  men  to  their  arms,  in  readiness  to  wait  the  event; 
nor  would  he  trust  to  the  reports  of  others,  but  he  him- 
self, in  front  of  his  camp,  viewed  all  that  passed.  When, 
therefore,  he  saw  the  army  of  Minucius  encompassed  by 
the  enemy,  and  that  by  their  countenance  and  shifting  their 
ground,  they  appeared  more  disposed  to  flight  than  to  re- 
sistance, with  a  great  sigh,  striking  his  hand  upon  his 
thigh,  he  said  to  those  about  him,  "  O  Hercules !  how 
much  sooner  than  T  expected,  though  later  than  he  seemed 
to  desire,  hath  Miniicius   destroyed  himself!"     He  then 


FABIUS.  191 

commanded  the  ensigns^  to  be  led  forward  and  the  army 
to  follow,  telling  them,  "  We  must  make  haste  to  rescue 
Minucius,  who  is  a  valiant  man,  and  a  lover  of  his  country ; 
and  if  he  hath  been  too  forward  to  engage  the  enemy,  at 
another  time  we  will  tell  him  of  it."  Thus,  at  the  head 
of  his  men,  Fabius  marched  up  to  the  enemy,  and  first 
cleared  the  plain  of  the  Numidians ;  and  next  fell  upon 
those  who  were  charging  the  Romans  in  the  rear,  cutting 
down  all  that  made  opposition,  and  obliging  the  rest  to 
save  themselves  by  a  hasty  retreat,  lest  they  should  be  en- 
vironed as  the  Romans  had  been.  Hannibal,  seeing  so 
sudden  a  change  of  affairs,  and  Fabius,  beyond  the  force 
of  his  age,  opening  his  way  through  the  ranks  up  the  hill- 
side, that  he  might  join  Minucius,  warily  forbore,  sounded 
a  retreat,  and  drew  off  his  men  into  their  camp ;  while  the 
Romans  on  their  part  were  no  less  contented  to  retire  in 
safety.  It  is  reported  that  upon  this  occasion  Hannibal 
said  jestingly  to  his  friends :  "  Did  not  I  tell  you,  that  this 
cloud  which  always  hovered  upon  the  mountains  would, 
at  some  time  or  other,  come  down  with  a  storm  upon  us  ?  " 
Fabius,  after  his  men  had  picked  up  the  spoils  of  the 
field,  retired  to  his  own  camp,  without  saying  any  harsh 
or  reproachful  thing  to  his  colleague  ;  who  also  on  his 
part,  gathering  his  army  together,  spoke  and  said  to  them  : 
"  To  conduct  great  matters  and  never  commit  a  fault  is 
above  the  force  of  human  nature ;  but  to  learn  and 
improve  by  the  faults  we  have  committed,  is  that  which 
becomes  a  good  and  sensible  man.  Some  reasons  I  may 
have  to  accuse  fortune,  but  I  have  many  more  to  thank 
her;  for  in  a  few  hours  she  hath  cured  a  long  mistake, 
and  taught  me  that  I  am  not  the  man  who  should  com- 

1  Officers  carrying  the  colors  or  standards. 


192  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

mand  others,  but  have  need  of  another  to  command  me ; 
and  that  we  are  not  to  contend  for  victory  over  those  to 
whom  it  is  our  advantage  to  yield.  Therefore  in  every- 
thing else  henceforth  the  dictator  must  be  your  com- 
mander ;  only  in  showing  gratitude  towards  him  I  will 
still  be  your  leader,  and  always  be  the  first  to  obey  his 
orders."  Having  said  this,  he  commanded  the  Roman 
eagles  to  move  forward,  and  all  his  men  to  follow  him  to 
the  camp  of  Fabius.  The  soldiers,  then,  as  he  entered, 
stood  amazed  at  the  novelty  of  the  sight,  and  were  anx- 
ious and  doubtful  what  the  meaning  might  be.  When 
he  came  near  the  dictator's  tent,  Fabius  went  forth  to 
meet  him,  on  which  he  at  once  laid  his  standards  at  his 
feet,  calling  him  with  a  loud  voice  his  father ;  while  the 
soldiers  with  him  saluted  the  soldiers  here  as  their  patrons, 
the  term  employed  by  freedmen  to  those  who  gave 
them  their  liberty.  After  silence  was  obtained,  Minucius 
said,  "  You  have  this  day,  O  dictator,  obtained  two 
victories ;  one  by  your  valor  and  conduct  over  Hannibal, 
and  another  by  your  wisdom  and  goodness  over  your 
colleague ;  by  one  victory  you  preserved,  and  by  the 
other  instructed  us  ;  and  when  we  were  already  suffering 
one  shameful  defeat  from  Hannibal,  by  another  welcome 
one  from  you  we  were  restored  to  honor  and  safety.  I 
can  address  you  by  no  nobler  name  than  that  of  a  kind 
father,  though  a  father's  beneficence  falls  short  of  that  1 
have  received  from  you.  From  a  father  I  individnall}/ 
received  the  gift  of  life;  to  you  I  owe  its  preservation 
not  for  myself  only,  but  for  all  these  who  are  under  me.'' 
After  this,  he  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  dictator ; 

Eagle :  the  figure  of  an  eagle  on  a  staff  was  the  principal  standard  of  the 
Roman  army. 


FABIUS.  193 

and  in  the  same  manner  the  soldiers  of  each  army  embraced 
one  another  with  gladness  and  tears  of  joy. 

Not  long  after,  Fabius  laid  down  the  dictatorship,  and 
consuls  were  again  created.  Those  who  immediately  suc- 
ceeded, observed  the  same  method  in  managing  the  war, 
and  avoided  all  occasions  of  fighting  Hannibal  in  a 
pitched  battle;  they  only  succored  their  allies,  and  pre- 
served the  towns  from  falling  off  to  the  enemy.  But 
afterwards,  when  Terentius  Varro,  a  man  of  obscure  birth, 
but  very  popular  and  bold,  had  obtained  the  consulship, 
he  soon  made  it  appear  that  by  his  rashness  and  igno- 
rance he  would  stake  the  whole  commonwealth  on  the 
hazard.  For  it  was  his  custom  to  declaim  in  all  assem- 
blies, that,  as  long  as  Rome  employed  generals  like  Fabius, 
there  never  would  be  an  end  of  the  war ;  vaunting  that 
whenever  he  should  get  sight  of  the  enemy,  he  would 
that  same  day  free  Italy  from  the  strangers.  With  these 
promises  he  so  prevailed,  that  he  raised  a  greater  army 
than  had  ever  yet  been  sent  out  of  Rome.  There  were 
enlisted  eighty-eight  thousand  fighting  men ;  but  what 
gave  confidence  to  the  populace,  only  terrified  the  wise 
and  experienced,  and  none  more  than  Fabius ;  since  if  so 
great  a  body,  and  the  flower  of  the  Roman  youth,  should 
be  cut  off,  they  could  not  see  any  new  resource  for  the 
safety  of  Rome.  They  addressed  themselves,  therefore, 
to  the  other  consul,  ^milius  Paulus,  a  man  of  great  expe- 
rience in  war,  but  unpopular,  and  fearful  also  of  the 
people,  who  once  before  upon  some  impeachment  had  con- 
demned him;  so  that  he  needed  encouragement  to  with- 
stand his  colleague's  temerity.  Fabius  told  him,  if  he 
would  profitably  serve  his  country,  he  must  no  less 
oppose  Varro's  ignorant  eagerness  than  Hannibal's  con- 


194  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

scious  readiness,  since  both  alike  conspired  to  decide  the 
fate  of  Rome  by  a  battle.  "It  is  more  reasonable,"  he 
said  to  him,  "  that  you  should  believe  me  than  Varro,  in 
matters  relating  to  Hannibal,  when  I  tell  you,  that  if  for 
this  year  you  abstain  from  fighting  with  him,  either  his 
army  will  perish  of  itself,  or  else  he  will  be  glad  to 
depart  of  his  own  will.  This  evidently  appears,  inasmuch 
as,  notwithstanding  his  victories,  none  of  the  countries  or 
towns  of  Italy  come  in  to  him,  and  his  army  is  not  now 
the  third  part  of  what  it  was  at  first."  To  this  Paulus 
is  said  to  have  replied,  "  Did  I  only  consider  myself,  I 
should  rather  choose  to  be  exposed  to  the  weapons  of 
Hannibal  than  once  more  to  the  suffrages  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  who  are  urgent  for  what  you  disapprove ;  yet 
since  the  cause  of  Rome  is  at  stake,  I  will  rather  seek  in 
my  conduct  to  please  and  obey  Fabius  than  all  the  world 
besides." 

These  good  measures  were  defeated  by  the  impor- 
tunity of  Varro ;  whom,  when  they  were  both  come  to 
the  army,  nothing  would  content  but  a  separate  com- 
mand, that  each  consul  should  have  his  day ;  and  when 
his  turn  came,  he  posted  his  army  close  to  Hannibal,  at  a 
village  called  Cannse,  by  the  river  Aufidus.  It  was  no 
sooner  day,  but  he  set  up  the  scarlet  coat  flying  over  his 
tent,  which  was  the  signal  of  battle.  This  boldness  of 
the  consul,  and  the  numerousness  of  his  army,  double 
theirs,  startled  the  Carthaginians ;  but  Hannibal  com- 
manded them  to  their  arms,  and  with  a  small  train  rode 
out  to  take  a  full  prospect  of  the  enemy  as  they  were 
now  forming  in  their  ranks,  from  a  rising  ground  not  far 
distant.  One  of  his  followers,  called  Gisco,  a  Cartha- 
ginian of   equal   rank   with   himself,   told   him   that   the 


FABIUS.  195 

numbers  of  the  enemy  were  astonishing ;  to  which  Han- 
nibal replied,  with  a  serious  countenance,  "  There  is  one 
thing,  Gisco,  yet  more  astonishing,  which  you  take  no 
notice  of " ;  and  when  Gisco  inquired  what,  answered, 
that  "  in  all  those  great  numbers  before  us,  there  is  not 
one  man  called  Gisco."  This  unexpected  jest  of  their 
general  made  all  the  company  laugh,  and  as  they  came 
down  from  the  hill,  they  told  it  to  those  whom  they  met, 
which  caused  a  general  laughter  amongst  them  all,  from 
which  they  were  hardly  able  to  recover  themselves.  The 
army,  seeing  Hannibal's  attendants  come  back  from 
viewing  the  enemy  in  such  a  laughing  condition,  con- 
cluded that  it  must  be  profound  contempt  of  the  enemy, 
that  made  their  general  at  this  moment  indulge  in  such 
hilarity. 

According  to  his  usual  manner,  Hannibal  employed 
stratagems  to  advantage  himself.  In  the  first  place,  he  so 
drew  up  his  men  that  the  wind  was  at  their  backs,  which 
at  that  time  blew  with  a  perfect  storm  of  violence,  and, 
sweeping  over  the  great  plains  of  sand,  carried  before  it 
a  cloud  of  dust  over  the  Carthaginian  army  into  the 
faces  of  the  Romans,  which  much  disturbed  them  in  the 
fight.  In  the  next  place,  all  his  best  men  he  put  into  his 
wings ;  and  in  the  body,  which  was  somewhat  more 
advanced  than  the  wings,  placed  the  worst  and  the  weak- 
est of  his  army.  He  commanded  those  in  the  wings, 
that,  when  the  enemy  had  made  a  thorough  charge  upon 
that  middle  advanced  body,  which  he  knew  would  recoil, 
as  not  being  able  to  withstand  their  shock,  and  when  the 
Romans,  in  their  pursuit,  should  be  far  enough  engaged 
within  the  two  wings,  they  should,  both  on  the  right  and 
the    left,    charge    them    in    the   flank,   and    endeavor    to 


196  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

t 
encompass  them.      This  appears  to  have  been  the  chief 

cause  of  the  Roman  loss.  Pressing  upon  Hannibal's  front, 
which  gave  ground,  they  reduced  the  form  of  his  army 
into  a  perfect  half-moon,  and  gave  ample  opportunity  to 
the  captains  of  the  chosen  troops  to  charge  them  right 
and  left  on  their  flanks,  and  to  cut  off  and  destroy  all 
who  did  not  fall  back  before  the  Carthaginian  wings 
united  in  their  rear.  To  this  general  calamity,  it  is  also 
said,  that  a  strange  mistake  among  the  cavalry  much  con- 
tributed. For  the  horse  of  ^milius  receiving  a  hurt  and 
throwing  his  master,  those  about  him  immediately  alighted 
to  aid  the  consul ;  and  the  Roman  troops,  seeing  their  com- 
manders thus  quitting  their  horses,  took  it  for  a  sign  that 
they  should  all  dismount  and  charge  the  enemy  on  foot. 
At  the  sight  of  this,  Hannibal  was  heard  to  say,  "  This 
pleases  me  better  than  if  they  had  been  delivered  to  me 
bound  hand  and  foot."  For  the  particulars  of  this  engage- 
ment, we  refer  our  reader  to  those  authors  who  have  writ- 
ten at  large  upon  the  subject. 

The  consul  Varro,  with  a  thin  company,  fled  to  Venu- 
sia;  ^milius  Paulus,  unable  any  longer  to  oppose  the 
flight  of  his  men,  or  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  his  body 
all  covered  with  wounds,  and  his  soul  no  less  wounded 
with  grief,  sat  himself  down  upon  a  stone,  expecting  the 
kindness  of  a  despatching  blow.  His  face  was  so  disfig- 
ured, and  all  his  person  so  stained  with  blood,  that  his 
very  friends  and  domestics  passing  by  knew  him  not.  At 
last  Cornelius  Lentulus,  a  young  man  of  patrician  race, 
perceiving  who  he  was,  alighted  from  his  horse,  and, 
tendering  it  to  him,  desired  him  to  get  up  and  save  a  life 
so  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  commonwealth,  which, 
at  this  time,  would  dearly  want  so  great  a  captain.     But 


FABIUS.^/^/'J-  197 

nothing  could  prevail  upon  him  to  accept  of  the  offer ;  he 
obliged  young  Lentulus,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to  remount 
his  horse ;  then  standing  up,  he  gave  him  his  hand,  and 
commanded  him  to  tell  Fabius  Maximus  that  ^milius 
Paulus  had  followed  his  directions  to  his  very  last,  and 
had  not  in  the  least  deviated  from  those  measures  which 
were  agreed  between  them ;  but  that  it  was  his  hard  fate 
to  be  overpowered  by  Varro  in  the  first  place,  and  secondly 
by  Hannibal.  Having  despatched  Lentulus  with  this  com- 
mission, he  marked  where  the  slaughter  was  greatest,  and 
there  threw  himself  upon  the  swords  of  the  enemy.  In 
this  battle  it  is  reported  that  fifty  thousand  Romans  were 
slain,  four  thousand  prisoners  taken  in  the  field,  and  ten 
thousand  in  the  camp  of  both  consuls. 

The  friends  of  Hannibal  earnestly  persuaded  him  to 
follow  up  his  victory,  and  pursue  the  flying  Romans  into 
the  very  gates  of  Rome,  assuring  him  that  in  five  days' 
time  he  might  sup  in  the  capitol ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  imag- 
ine what  consideration  hindered  him  from  it.  It  would 
seem  rather  that  some  supernatural  or  divine  intervention 
caused  the  hesitation  and  timidity  which  he  now  displayed, 
and  which  made  Barcas,  a  Carthaginian,  tell  him  with 
indignation,  "  You  know,  Hannibal,  how  to  gain  a  victory, 
but  not  how  to  use  it."  Yet  it  produced  a  marvellous 
revolution  in  his  affairs;  he,  who  hitherto  had  not  one 
town,  market,  or  seaport  in  his  possession,  who  had  noth- 
ing for  the  subsistence  of  his  men  but  what  he  pillaged 
from  day  to  day,  who  had  no  place  of  retreat  or  basis  of 
operation,  but  was  roving,  as  it  were,  with  a  huge  troop  of 
banditti,  now  became  master  of  the  best  provinces  and 
towns  of  Italy,  and  of  Capua  itself,  next  to  Rome  the  most 
flourishing  and  opulent  city,  all  which  came  over  to  him, 
and  submitted  to  his  authority. 


198  PLUTAKCH*S  LIVES. 

It  is  the  saying  of  Euripides,  that  ''  a  man  is  in  ill-case 
when  he  must  try  a  friend,"  and  so  neither,  it  would  seem, 
is  a  state  in  a  good  one,  when  it  needs  an  able  general. 
And  so  it  was  with  the  Romans ;  the  counsels  and  actions 
of  Fabius,  which,  before  the  battle,  they  had  branded  as 
cowardice  and  fear,  now,  in  the  other  extreme  they 
accounted  to  have  been  more  than  human  wisdom;  as 
though  nothing  but  a  divine  power  of  intellect  could  have 
seen  so  far,  and  foretold,  contrary  to  the  judgment  of  all 
others,  a  result  which,  even  now  it  had  arrived,  was  hardly 
credible.  In  him,  therefore,  they  placed  their  whole 
remaining  hopes;  his  wisdom  was  the  sacred  altar  and 
temple  to  which  they  fled  for  refuge,  and  his  counsels,. 
more  than  anything,  preserved  them  from  dispersing  and 
deserting  their  city,  as  in  the  time  when  the  Gauls  took 
possession  of  Rome.  He,  whom  they  esteemed  fearful  and 
pusillanimous  when  they  were,  as  they  thought,  in  a  pros- 
perous condition,  was  now  the  only  man,  in  this  general 
and  unbounded  dejection  and  confusion,  who  showed  no 
fear,  but  walked  the  streets  with  an  assured  and  serene 
countenance,  addressed  his  fellow-citizens,  checked  the 
women's  lamentations,  and  the  public  gatherings  of  those 
who  wanted  thus  to  vent  their  sorrows.  He  caused  the 
senate  to  meet,  he  heartened  up  the  magistrates,  and  was 
himself  as  the  soul  and  life  of  every  office. 

He  placed  guards  at  the  gates  of  the  city  to  stop  the 
frighted  multitude  from  flying;  he  regulated  and  confined 
their  mournings  for  their  slain  friends,  both  as  to  time  and 
place;  ordering  that  each  family  should  perform  such 
observances  within  private  walls,  and  that  they  should 
continue  only  the  space  of  one  month,  and  then  the  whole 


PABIUS.  199 

city  should  be  purified.  The  feast  of  Ceres  happening  to 
fall  within  this  time,  it  was  decreed  that  the  solemnity 
should  be  intermitted,  lest  the  fewness,  and  the  sorrowful 
countenance  of  those  who  should  celebrate  it,  might  too 
much  expose  to  the  people  the  greatness  of  their  loss; 
besides  that,  the  worship  most  acceptable  to  the  gods  is 
that  w^hich  comes  from  cheerful  hearts.  But  those  rites 
which  were  proper  for  appeasing  their  anger,  and  procur- 
ing auspicious  signs  and  presages,  were  by  the  direction  of 
the  augurs  carefully  performed.  i  ,  ,-v^  "     . 

Above  all,  let  us  admire  the  high  spirit  and  equanimity 
of  this  Roman  commonwealth;  that  when  the  consul  Varro 
came  beaten  and  flying  home,  full  of  shame  and  humilia- 
tion, after  he  had  so  disgracefully  and  calamitously  man- 
aged their  affairs,  yet  the  whole  senate  and  people  went 
forth  to  meet  him  at  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  received 
him  with  honor  and  respect.  And,  silence  being  com- 
manded, the  magistrates  and  chief  of  the  senate,  Fabius 
amongst  them,  commended  him  before  the  people,  because 
he  did  not  despair  of  the  safety  of  the  commonwealth, 
after  so  great  a  loss,  but  was  come  to  take  the  government 
into  his  hands,  to  execute  the  laws,  and  aid  his  fellow- 
citizens  in  their  prospect  of  future  deliverance. 

When  word  was  brought  to  Rome  that  Hannibal,  after 
the  fight,  had  marched  with  his  army  into  other  parts  of 
Italy,  the  hearts  of  the  Romans  began  to  revive,  and  they 
proceeded  to  send  out  generals  and  armies.  The  most 
distinguished  commands  were  held  by  Fabius  Maximus 
and  Claudius  Marcellus,  both  generals  of  great  fame, 
though   upon   opposite  grounds.      For  Marcellus,  as  we 

Purified:  purification  was  a  religious  rite.  Water  was  used,  and  sacrifices 
oifered,  so  that  the  cleansed  city  might  be  acceptable  to  the  gods.    M. 


200  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

have  set  forth  in  his  life,  was  a  man  of  action  and  high 
spirit,  ready  and  bold  with  his  own  hand,  and,  as  Homer 
describes  his  warriors,  fierce,  and  delighting  in  fights. 
Boldness,  enterprise,  and  daring,  to  match  those  of  Hanni- 
bal, constituted  his  tactics,  and  marked  his  engagements. 
But  Fabius  adhered  to  his  former  principles,  still  per- 
suaded that,  by  following  close  and  not  fighting  him, 
Hannibal  and  his  army  would  at  last  be  tired  out  and  con- 
sumed, like  a  wrestler  in  too  high  condition,  whose  very 
excess  of  strength  makes  him  the  more  likely  suddenly  to , 
give  way  and  lose  it.  Posidonius  tells  us  that  the  Romans 
called  Marcellus  their  sword,  and  Fabius  their  buckler; 
and  that  the  vigor  of  the  one,  mixed  with  the  steadiness 
of  the  other,  made  a  happy  compound  that  proved  the 
salvation  of  Rome.  So  that  Hannibal  found  by  experience 
that,  encountering  the  one,  he  met  with  a  rapid,  impetuous 
river,  which  drove  him  back,  and  still  made  some  breach 
upon  him ;  and  by  the  other,  though  silently  and  quietly 
passing  by  him,  he  was  insensibly  washed  away  and  con- 
sumed ;  and,  at  last,  was  brought  to  this,  that  he  dreaded 
Marcellus  when  he  was  in  motion,  and  Fabius  when  he 
sat  still.  During  the  whole  course  of  this  war,  he  had  still 
to  do  with  one  or  both  of  these  generals ;  for  each  of  them 
was  five  times  consul,  and,  as  praetors  or  proconsuls  or 
consuls,  they  had  always  a  part  in  the  government  of  the 
army,  till,  at  last,  Marcellus  fell  into  the  trap  which 
Hannibal  had  laid  for  him,  and  was  killed  in  his  fifth 
consulship.  But  all  his  craft  and  subtlety  were  unsuc- 
cessful upon  Fabius,  who  only  once  was  in  some  danger  of 
being  caught,  when  counterfeit  letters  came  to  him  from 
the  principal  inhabitants  of  Metapontum,  with  promises  to 

Proconsul  :  a  governor  of  a  province,  having  the  authority  of  a  consul. 


FABIUS.  201 

deliver  up  their  town  if  he  would  come  before  it  with  hiii 
army,  and  intimations  that  they  should  expect  him.  This 
train  had  almost  drawn  him  in ;  he  resolved  to  march  ta 
them  with  part  of  his  army,  and  was  diverted  only  by 
consulting  the  omens  of  the  birds,  which  he  found  to  be 
inauspicious;  and  not  long  after  it  was  discovered  that 
the  letters  had  been  forged  by  Hannibal,  who,  for  his 
reception,  had  laid  an  ambush  to  entertain  him.  This, 
perhaps,  we  must  rather  attribute  to  the  favor  of  the  gods 
than  to  the  prudence  of  Fabius. 

In  preserving  the  towns  and  allies  from  revolt  by  fair 
and  gentle  treatment,  and  in  not  using  rigor,  or  showing 
a  suspicion  upon  every  light  suggestion,  his  conduct  was 
remarkable.  It  is  told  of  him,  that,  being  informed  of  a 
certain  Marsian,  eminent  for  courage  and  good  birth,  who 
had  been  speaking  underhand  with  some  of  the  soldiers 
about  deserting,  Fabius  was  so  far  from  using  severity 
against  him,  that  he  called  for  him,  and  told  him  he  was 
sensible  of  the  neglect  that  had  been  shown  to  his  merit 
and  good  service,  which,  he  said,  was  a  great  fault  in  the 
commanders  who  reward  more  by  favor  than  by  desert; 
"but  henceforward,  whenever  you  are  aggrieved,"  said 
Fabius,  "  I  shall  consider  it  your  fault,  if  you  apply  your- 
self to  any  but  to  me"  ;  and  when  he  had  so  spoken,  he 
bestowed  an  excellent  horse  and  other  presents  upon  him ; 
and,  from  that  time  forwards,  there  was  not  a  more  faith- 
ful and  more  trusty  man  in  the  whole  army.  With  good 
reason  he  judged,  that,  if  those  who  have  the  government 
of  horses  and  dogs  endeavor  by  gentle  usage  to  cure  their 
angry  and  untractable  tempers,  rather  than  by  cruelty  and 
beating,  much  more  should  those  who  have  the  command 
of  men  try  to  bring  them  to  order  and  discipline  by  the 


202  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

mildest  and  fairest  means,  and  not  treat  them  worse  than 
gardeners  do  those  wild  plants,  which,  with  care  and 
attention,  lose  gradually  the  savageness  of  their  nature, 
and  bear  excellent  fruit. 

At  another  time,  some  of  his  officers  informed  him  that 
one  of  their  men  was  very  often  absent  from  his  place, 
and  out  at  nights ;  he  asked  them  what  kind  of  man  he 
was ;  they  all  answered,  that  the  whole  army  had  not  a 
better  man,  that  he  was  a  native  of  Lucania,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  speak  of  several  actions  which  they  had  seen 
him  perform.  Fabius  made  strict  inquiry,  and  discovered 
at  last  that  these  frequent  excursions  which  he  ventured 
upon  were  to  visit  a  young  girl,  with  whom  he  was  in 
love.  Upon  which  he  gave  private  order  to  some  of  his 
men  to  find  out  the  woman  and  secretly  convey  her  into 
his  own  tent ;  and  then  sent  for  the  Lucanian,  and,  calling 
him  aside,  told  him,  that  he  very  well  knew  how  often  he 
had  been  out  away  from  the  camp  at  night,  which  was  a 
capital  transgression  against  military  discipline  and  the 
Roman  laws,  but  he  knew  also  how  brave  he  was,  and  the 
good  services  he  had  done ;  therefore,  in  consideration  of 
them,  he  was  willing  to  forgive  him  his  fault ;  but  to  keep 
him  in  good  order,  he  was  resolved  to  place  one  over  him 
to  be  his  keeper,  who  should  be  accountable  for  his  good 
behavior.  Having  said  this,  he  produced  the  woman, 
and  told  the  soldier,  terrified  and  amazed  at  the  adventure, 
''  This  is  the  person  who  must  answer  for  you  ;  and  by  your 
future  behavior  we  shall  see  whether  your  night  rambles 
were  on  account  of  love,  or  for  any  other  worse  design." 

Another  passage  there  was,  something  of  the  same  kind, 
which  gained  him  possession  of  Tarentum.  There  was  a 
young  Tarentine  in  the  army  that  had  a  sister  in  Taren- 


FABIUS.  203 

turn,  then  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  who  entirely  loved 
her  brother,  and  wholly  depended  upon  him.  He,  being 
informed  that  a  certain  Bruttian,  whom  Hannibal  had 
made  a  commander  of  the  garrison,  was  deeply  in  love 
with  his  sister,  conceived  hopes  that  he  might  possibly 
turn  it  to  the  advantage  of  the  Romans.  And  having 
first  communicated  his  design  to  Fabius,  he  left  the  army, 
pretending  to  be  a  deserter,  and  went  over  to  Tarentum. 
The  first  days  passed,  and  the  Bruttian  abstained  from 
visiting  the  sister;  for  neither  of  them  knew  that  the 
brother  had  notice  of  the  amour  between  them.  The 
young  Tarentine,  however,  took  an  occasion  to  tell  his 
sister  how  he  had  heard  that  a  man  of  station  and  au- 
thority had  made  his  addresses  to  her,  and  desired  her, 
therefore,  to  tell  him  who  it  was;  "for,"  said  he,  "if  he 
be  a  man  that  has  bravery  and  reputation,  it  matters  not 
what  countryman  he  is,  since  at  this  time  the  sword  min- 
gles all  nations,  and  makes  them  equal ;  compulsion  makes 
all  things  honorable ;  and  in  a  time  when  right  is  weak, 
we  may  be  thankful  if  might  assumes  a  form  of  gentle- 
ness." Upon  this  the  woman  sends  for  her  friend,  and 
makes  the  brother  and  him  acquainted ;  and  whereas  she 
henceforth  showed  more  countenance  to  her  lover  than 
formerly,  in  the  same  degrees  that  her  kindness  increased, 
his  friendship,  also,  with  the  brother  advanced.  So  that 
at  last  our  Tarentine  thought  this  Bruttian  officer  well 
enough  prepared  to  receive  the  offers  he  had  to  make  him ; 
and  that  it  would  be  easy  for  a  mercenary  man,  who  was 
in  love,  to  accept,  upon  the  terms  proposed,  the  large  re- 
wards promised  by  Fabius.  In  conclusion,  the  bargain  was 
struck,  and  the  promise  made  of  delivering  the  town. 
This  is  the  common  tradition. 


204  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

Whilst  these  matters  were  thus  in  process,  to  draw  off 
Hannibal  from  scenting  the  design,  Fabius  sends  orders 
to  the  garrison  in  Rhegium,  that  they  should  waste  and 
spoil  the  Bruttian  country,  and  should  also  lay  siege  to 
Caulonia,  and  storm  the  place  with  all  their  might.  These 
were  a  body  of  eight  thousand  men,  the  worst  of  the 
Roman  army,  who  had  most  of  them  been  runaways,  and 
had  been  brought  home  by  Marcellus  from  Sicily,  in  dis- 
honor, so  that  the  loss  of  them  would  not  be  any  great 
grief  to  the  Romans.  Fabius,  therefore,  threw  out  these 
men  as  a  bait  for  Hannibal,  to  divert  him  from  Tarentum; 
who  instantly  caught  at  it,  and  led  his  forces  to  Caulonia ; 
in  the  mean  time,  Fabius  sat  down  before  Tarentum.  On 
the  sixth  day  of  the  siege,  the  young  Tarentine  slips  by 
night  out  of  the  town,  and,  having  carefully  observed  the 
place  where  the  Bruttian  commander,  according  to  agree- 
ment, was  to  admit  the  Romans,  gave  an  account  of  the 
whole  matter  to  Fabius ;  who  thought  it  not  safe  to  rely 
wholly  upon  the  plot,  but,  while  proceeding  with  secrecy 
to  the  post,  gave  order  for  a  general  assault  to  be  made  on 
the  other  side  of  the  town,  both  by  land  and  sea.  This 
being  accordingly  executed,  while  the  Tarentines  hurried 
to  defend  the  town  on  the  side  attacked,  Fabius  received 
tlie  signal  from  the  Bruttian,  scaled  the  walls,  and  entered 
the  town  unopposed. 

Here,  we  must  confess,  ambition  seems  to  have  over- 
come him.  To  make  it  appear  to  the  world  that  he  had 
taken  Tarentum  by  force  and  his  own  prowess,  and  not  by 
treachery,  he  commanded  his  men  to  kill  the  Bruttians 
before  all  others ;  yet  he  did  not  succeed  in  establishing 
the  impression  he  desired,  but  merely  gained  the  character 
of  perfidy   and   cruelty.     Many  of   the  Tarentines  were 


FABIUS.  205 

also  killed,  and  thirty  thousand  of  them  were  sold  for 
slaves ;  the  army  had  the  plunder  of  the  town,  and  there 
was  brought  into  the  treasury  three  thousand  talents. 
Whilst  they  were  carrying  off  everything  else  as  plunder, 
the  officer  who  took  the  inventory  asked  what  should  be 
done  with  their  gods,  meaning  the  pictures  and  statues; 
Fabius  answered,  "  Let  us  l^ave  their  angry  gods  to  the 
Tarentines."  Nevertheless,  he  removed  the  colossal 
statue  of  Hercules,  and  had  it  set  up  in  the  capitol,  with 
one  of  himself  on  horseback,  in  brass,  near  it;  proceed- 
ings very  different  from  those  of  Marcellus  on  a  like 
occasion,  and  which,  indeed,  very  much  set  off  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  his  clemency  and  humanity,  as  appears  in 
the  account  of  his  life. 

Hannibal,  it  is  said,  was  within  five  miles  of  Tarentum, 
when  he  was  informed  that  the  town  was  taken.  He  said 
openly,  "  Rome,  then,  has  also  got  a  Hannibal ;  as  we  won 
Tarentum,  so  have  we  lost  it."  And,  in  private  with 
some  of  his  confidants,  he  told  them,  for  the  first  time, 
that  he  always  thought  it  difficult,  but  now  he  held  it  im- 
possible, with  the  forces  he  then  had,  to  master  Italy. 

Upon  this  success,  Fabius  had  a  triumph  decreed  him  at 
Rome,  much  more  splendid  than  his  first;  they  looked 
upon  him  now  as  a  champion  who  had  learned  to  cope 
with  his  antagonist,  and  could  now  easily  foil  his  arts  and 
prove  his  best  skill  ineffectual.  And,  indeed,  the  army  of 
Hannibal  was  at  this  time  partly  worn  away  with  con- 
tinual action,  and  partly  weakened  and  become  dissolute 
with  overabundance  and  luxury.  Marcus  Livius,  who 
was  governor  of  Tarentum  when  it  was  betrayed  to  Han- 
nibal, and  then  retired  into  the  citadel,  which  he  kept  till 
the  town  was  retaken,  was  annoyed  at  these  honors  and 


206  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

distinctions,  and,  on  one  occasion,  openly  declared  in  the 
senate,  that  by  his  resistance,  more  than  by  any  action  of 
Fabius,  Tarentuni  had  been  recovered ;  on  which  Pabius 
laughingly  replied:  "You  say  very  true,  for  if  Marcus 
Livius  had  not  lost  Tarentum,  Fabius  Maximus  had  never 
recovered  it."  The  people,  amongst  other  marks  of  grati- 
tude, gave  his  son  the  consulship  of  the  next  year ;  shortly 
after  whose  entrance  upon  his  office,  there  being  some 
business  on  foot  about  provision  for  the  war,  his  father, 
either  by  reason  of  age  and  infirmity,  or  perhaps  out  of 
design  to  try  his  son,  came  up  to  him  on  horseback. 
While  he  was  still  at  a  distance,  the  young  consul 
observed  it,  and  bade  one  of  his  lictors  command  his 
father  to  alight,  and  tell  him  that,  if  he  had  any  business 
with  the  consul,  he  should  come  on  foot.  The  by- 
standers seemed  offended  at  the  imperiousness  of  the  son 
towards  a  father  so  venerable  for  his  age  and  his  authority, 
and  turned  their  eyes  in  silence  towards  Fabius.  He, 
however,  instantly  alighted  from  his  horse,  and  with  open 
arms  came  up,  almost  running,  and  embraced  his  son, 
saying,  "  Yes,  my  son,  you  do  well,  and  understand  well 
what  authority  you  have  received,  and  over  whom  you 
are  to  use  it.  This  was  the  way  by  which  we  and  our 
forefathers  advanced  the  dignity  of  Rome,  preferring  ever 
her  honor  and  service  to  our  own  fathers  and  children." 

And,  in  fact,  it  is  told  that  the  great-grandfather  of  our 
Fabius,  who  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  man  of  Rome 
in  his  time,  both  in  reputation  and  authority,  who  had. 
been  five  times  consul,  and  had  been  honored  with  several 
triumphs  for  victories  obtained  by  him,  took  pleasure  in 
serving  as  lieutenant  under  his  own  son,  when  he  went  as 
consul   to  his  command.     And  when  afterwards  his  son 


FABIUS.  207 

had  a  triumph  bestowed  upon  him  for  his  good  service, 
the  old  man  followed,  on  horseback,  his  triumphant  char- 
iot, as  one  of  his  attendants;  and  made  it  his  glory,  that 
while  he  really  was,  and  was  acknowledged  to  be,  the 
greatest  man  in  Eome,  and  held  a  father's  full  power  over 
his  son,  he  yet  submitted  himself  to  the  laws  and  the 
magistrate. 

But  the  praises  of  our  Fabius  are  not  bounded  here. 
He  afterwards  lost  this  son,  and  was  remarkable  for  bear- 
ing the  loss  with  the  moderation  becoming  a  pious  father 
and  a  wise  man,  and,  as  it  was  the  custom  amongst  the 
Romans,  upon  the  death  of  any  illustrious  person,  to  have 
a  funeral  oration  recited  by  some  of  the  nearest  relations, 
he  took  upon  himself  that  office,  and  delivered  a  speech  in 
the  forum,  which  he  committed  afterwards  to  writing. 

After  Cornelius  Scipio,  who  was  sent  into  Spain,  had 
driven  the  Carthaginians,  defeated  by  him  in  many  bat- 
tles, out  of  the  country,  and  had  gained  over  to  Rome 
many  towns  and  nations  with  large  resources,  he  was  re- 
ceived at  his  coming  home  with  unexampled  joy  and  ac- 
clamation of  the  people;  who,  to  show  their  gratitude, 
elected  him  consul  for  the  year  ensuing.  Knowing  what 
high  expectation  they  had  of  him,  he  thought  the  occupa- 
tion of  contesting  Italy  with  Hannibal  a  mere  old  man's 
employment,  and  proposed  no  less  a  task  to  himself  than 
to  make  Carthage  the  seat  of  the  war,  fill  Africa  with 
arms  and  devastation,  and  so  oblige  Hannibal,  instead  of 
invading  the  countries  of  others,  to  draw  back  and  defend 
his  own.  And  to  this  end  he  proceeded  to  elxert  all  the 
influence  he  had  with  the  people.  Fabius,  on  the  other 
side,  opposed  the  undertaking  with  all  his  might,  alarming 
the  city,  and  telling  them  that  nothing  but  the  temerity 


208  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

of  a  hot  young  man  could  inspire  them  with  such  danger- 
ous counsels,  and  sparing  no  means,  by  word  or  deed,  to 
prevent  it.  He  prevailed  with  the  senate  to  espouse  his 
sentiments ;  but  the  common  people  thought  that  he  en- 
vied the  fame  of  Scipio,  and  that  he  was  afraid  lest  this 
young  conqueror  should  achieve  some  great  and  noble 
exploit,  and  have  the  glory,  perhaps,  of  driving  Hannibal 
out  of  Italy,  or  even  of  ending  the  war,  which  had  for 
so  many  years  continued  and  been  protracted  under  his 
management. 

To  say  the  truth,  when  Fabius  first  opposed  this  project 
of  Scipio,  he  probably  did  it  out  of  caution  and  prudence, 
in  consideration  only  of  the  public  safety,  and  of  the  danger 
which  the  commonwealth  might  incur  ;  but  when  he  found 
Scipio  every  day  increasing  in  the  esteem  of  the  people, 
rivalry  and  ambition  led  him  further,  and  made  him  vio- 
lent and  personal  in  his  opposition.  For  he  even  applied 
to  Crassus,  the  colleague  of  Scipio,  and  urged  him  not  to 
yield  the  command  to  Scipio,  but  that,  if  his  inclinations 
were  for  it,  he  should  himself  in  person  lead  the  army  to 
Carthage.  He  also  hindered  the  giving  money  to  Scipio 
for  the  war;  so  that  he  was  forced  to  raise  it  upon  his 
own  credit  and  interest  from  the  cities  of  Etruria,  which 
were  extremely  attached  to  him.  On  the  other  side,  Cras- 
sus would  not  stir  against  him,  nor  remove  out  of  Italy, 
being,  in  his  own  nature,  averse  to  all  contention,  and  also 
having,  by  his  office  of  high  priest,  religious  duties  to  re- 
tain him.  Fabius,  therefore,  tried  other  ways  to  oppose 
the  design  ;  he  impeded  the  levies,  and  he  declaimed,  both 
in  the  senate  and  to  the  people,  that  Scipio  was  not  only 
himself  flying  from  Hannibal,  but  was  also  endeavoring  to 
drain  Italy  of  all  its  forces,  and  to  spirit  away  the  youth 


FABIUS.  209 

of  the  country  to  a  foreign  war,  leaving  behind  them  their 
parents,  wives,  and  children,  and  the  city  itself,  a  defence- 
less prey  to  the  conquering  and  undefeated  enemy  at  their 
doors.  With  this  he  so  far  alarmed  the  people,  that  at 
last  they  would  only  allow  Scipio  for  the  war  the  legions 
which  were  in  Sicily,  and  three  hundred,  whom  he  particu- 
larly  trusted,  of  those  men  who  had  served  with  him  in 
Spain.  In  these  transactions,  Fabius  seems  to  have  fol- 
lowed the  dictates  of  his  own  wary  temper. 

But,  after  that  Scipio  was  gone  over  into  Africa,  when 
news  almost  immediately  came  to  Rome  of  wonderful 
exploits  and  victories,  of  which  the  fame  was  confirmed 
by  the  spoils  he  sent  home;  of  a  Numidian  king  taken 
prisoner ;  of  a  vast  slaughter  of  their  men ;  of  two  camps 
of  the  enemy  burnt  and  destroyed,  and  in  them  a  great 
quantity  of  arms  and  horses;  and  when,  hereupon,  the 
Carthaginians  were  compelled  to  send  envoys  to  Hanni- 
bal to  call  him  home,  and  leave  his  idle  hopes  in  Italy,  to 
defend  Carthage ;  when,  for  such  eminent  and  transcend- 
ing services,  the  whole  people  of  Rome  cried  up  and  ex- 
tolled the  actions  of  Scipio ;  even  then,  Fabius  contended 
that  a  successor  should  be  sent  in  his  place,  alleging  for 
it  only  the  old  reason  of  the  mutability  of  fortune,  as  if 
she  would  be  weary  of  long  favoring  the  same  person. 
With  this  language  many  did  begin  to  feel  offended;  it 
seemed  to  be  moroseness  and  ill-will,  the  pusillanimity  of 
old  age,  or  of  fear,  that  had  now  become  exaggerated,  of 
the  skill  of  Hannibal.  Nay,  when  Hannibal  had  put  his 
army  on  shipboard,  and  taken  his  leave  of  Italy,  Fabius 
still  could  not  forbear  to  oppose  and  disturb  the  universal 
joy  of  Rome,  expressing  his  fears  and  apprehensions,  tell- 
ing  them    that   the   commonwealth   was   never   in   more 


210  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

danger  than  now,  and  that  Hannibal  was  a  more  formida- 
ble enemy  under  the  walls  of  Carthage  than  ever  he  had 
been  in  Italy ;  that  it  would  be  fatal  to  Rome,  whenever 
Scipio  should  encounter  his  victorious  army,  still  warm 
with  the  blood  of  so  many  Roman  generals,  dictators,  and 
consuls  slain.  And  the  people  were,  in  some  degree, 
startled  with  these  declamations,  and  were  brought  to  be- 
lieve, that  the  further  off  Hannibal  was,  the  nearer  was 
their  danger.  Scipio,  however,  shortly  afterwards  fought 
Hannibal,  and  utterly  defeated  him,  humbled  the  pride  of 
Carthage  beneath  his  feet,  gave  his  countrymen  joy  and 
exultation  beyond  all  their  hopes,  and 

"  Long  shaken  on  the  seas  restored  the  state." 

Fabius  Maximus,  however,  did  not  live  to  see  the  pros- 
perous end  of  this  war,  and  the  final  overthrow  of  Hanni- 
bal, nor  to  rejoice  in  the  reestablished  happiness  and 
security  of  the  commonwealth;  for  about  the  time  that 
Hannibal  left  Italy,  he  fell  sick  and  died.  At  Thebes, 
Epaminondas  died  so  poor  that  he  was  buried  at  the  pub- 
lic charge ;  one  small  iron  coin  was  all,  it  is  said,  that  was 
found  in  his  house.  Fabius  did  not  need  this,  but  the 
people,  as  a  mark  of  their  affection,  defrayed  the  expenses 
of  his  funeral  by  a  private  contribution  from  each  citizen 
of  the  smallest  piece  of  coin  ;  thus  owning  him  their  com- 
mon father,  and  making  his  end  no  less  honorable  than 
his  life. 


JJU 

)    ^ 
INTRODUCTION  TO   SEKTORIlTS. 

The  Second  Punic  War  gave  Rome  the  possession  of 
Spain,  and  she  now  had  complete  control  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  west  of  Italy.  Carthage  was  left  independent 
for  a  while,  but  was  deprived  of  all  its  power,  and  was  no 
longer  able  to  cope  with  Rome.  The  Romans,  however, 
never  ceased  to  hate  their  old  rival,  and  to  fear  that  it 
might  recover  its  former  strength.  So,  after  about  fifty 
years,  they  took  an  opportunity  to  pick  a  quarrel,  and  the 
Third  Punic  War  followed,  in  which  Carthage  was  cap- 
tured and  destroyed,  B.C.  146. 

Soon  after  the  Second  Punic  War,  the  Romans  began  to 
carry  their  arms  into  the  eastern  half  of  the  Mediterranean 
also.  First  lUyricum,  the  country  east  of  the  Adriatic 
Sea,  was  subdued,  then  Macedonia  and  Greece ;  and  one 
country  after  another  was  either  made  into  a  province  or 
forced  to  become  the  ally  and  auxiliary  of  Rome.  The 
last  serious  resistance  made  to  the  Roman  advance  in  the 
East  was  by  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  a  country  on  the 
Black  Sea,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Asia  Minor.  He  was  a 
very  powerful  and  warlike  king,  and  gave  the  Romans  a 
great  deal  of  trouble.  In  the  year  B.C.  88  he  overran  the 
whole  of  Asia  Minor,  and  gave  orders  for  a  massacre  of  all 
Italian  residents ;  80,000  of  these  are  said  to  have  been 
slain  in  one  day.  At  this  the  Romans  declared  war 
and  sent  their  consul,  Lucius  Cornelius  Sulla,  against 
him.  The  war  that  followed  is  known  as  the  First  Mith- 
ridatic  War.  But  some  other  events  had  taken  place 
before  this,  which  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of. 


212  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

In  these  years  new  dissensions  had  arisen  among  the 
Romans,  as  violent  as  the  old  dissensions  between  the 
patricians  and  plebeians.  There  were  two  parties,  known 
as  the  optimates  (the  party  of  the  nobles)  and  the  popu- 
lares  (the  party  of  the  common  people) ;  and  the  contest 
of  the  parties  became  so  bitter  that  they  fought  with  one 
another  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  and  many  persons  were 
murdered  outright  or  secretly  assassinated.  One  of  the 
principal  questions  that  came  up  was  as  to  the  Allies,  or 
people  of  the  independent  Italian  cities,  who  wished  to  be 
admitted  to  Roman  citizenship.  In  the  year  90  they 
united  in  what  is  known  as  the  Social  War,  or  war  of  the 
Allies  (^Socii) ;  and  although  they  were  defeated  in  the 
war,  nevertheless  they  gained  the  object  for  which  they 
fought,  and  in  a  short  time  the  Italian  towns  all  became  a 
part  of  the  Roman  republic. 

As  soon  as  the  Social  War  was  finished,  a  Civil  War 
began.  Its  real  cause  was  the  hatred  of  the  parties  against 
each  other,  but  it  was  directly  occasioned  by  the  Mithri- 
datic  War,  which  was  declared  in  the  year  88.  One  of  the 
consuls  for  this  year  was  Sulla,  and  the  command  of  the 
war  against  Mithridates  was  assigned  to  him.  But  he  was 
a  leader  of  the  nobility,  and  the  opposite  party  succeeded 
in  getting  a  vote  to  take  the  command  from  him  and  give 
it  to  his  rival  Carus  Marius.  Marius  was  a  man  of  low 
birth  and  no  education,  but  he  was  an  experienced  and 
successful  general,  and  had  gained  great  victories,  particu- 
larly over  some  hordes  of  German  barbarians  that  had 
attempted  to  invade  Italy  a  few  years  before.  Marius  and 
Sulla  were  not  only  the  leaders  of  two  opposite  parties,  but 
they  were  personally  bitter  enemies  of  one  another;  and 
when  the  law  was  passed,  depriving  Sulla  of  his  command, 


SEKTORIUS.  213 

he  refused  to  obey,  and  at  once  marclied  upon  Rome,  put  to 
death  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  party,  placed  the  govern- 
ment in  the  hands  of  his  own  party,  and  then  set  out  for 
the  war  against  Mithridates. 

Marius  had  succeeded  in  escaping  when  Rome  was  cap- 
tured by  Sulla ;  and  he  soon  came  back,  murdered  all  of  ^ 
the  party  of  the  nobles  whom  he  could  get  at,  and  pro- 
cured himself  to  be  elected  consul,  holding  that  office  for 
the  seventh  time.  He  died  during  his  consulship,  and  was 
succeeded  as  leader  of  the  popular  party  by  Cinna,  and 
afterwards  Carbo,  —  men  as  cruel  and  bloodthirsty  as 
Marius  himself.  But  the  best  man  and  the  ablest  leader 
of  this  faction  was  Quintus  Sertorius,  who  was  sent  to 
Spain,  the  most  important  of  the  provinces,  to  hold  it  with 
an  army,  in  behalf  of  the  popular  party.  Soon  after  this, 
Sulla  returned  from  Asia  (B.C.  82),  captured  Rome,  and 
was  made  perpetual  dictator,  that  is,  the  same  as  king. 
For  about  three  years  he  ruled  Rome  as  a  despot,  being 
even  more  cruel  and  bloodthirsty  than  Marius  and  Cinna 
and  Carbo.  But  he  made  some  very  good  laws,  and  after 
ruling  for  three  years,  gave  up  his  office,  and  shortly  after- 
wards died.  All  this  time  Sertorius  had  possession  of 
Spain,  and  none  of  the  generals  that  were  sent  against  him 
could  get  the  better  of  him. 


214  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 


SERTORIUS. 


"TT  is  no  great  wonder  if  in  long  process  of  time,  while 
-*-  fortune  takes  her  course  hither  and  thither,  numerous 
coincidences  should  spontaneously  occur.  If  the  number 
and  variety  of  subjects  to  be  wrought  upon  be  infinite,  it 
is  all  the  more  easy  for  fortune,  with  such  an  abundance 
of  material,  to  effect  this  similarity  of  results.  Or  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  events  are  limited  to  the  combinations  of 
some  finite  number,  then  of  necessity  the  same  must  often 
recur,  and  in  the  same  sequence.  There  are  people  who 
take  a  pleasure  in  making  collections  of  all  such  fortuitous 
occurrences  that  they  have  heard  or  read  of,  as  look  like 
works  of  a  rational  power  and  design ;  they  observe,  for 
example,  that  two  eminent  persons,  whose  names  were 
Attis,  the  one  a  Syrian,  the  other  of  Arcadia,  were  both 
slain  by  a  wild  boar;  that  of  two  whose  names  were 
Actaeon,  the  one  was  torn  in  pieces  by  his  dogs,  the  other 
by  his  lovers ;  that  of  two  famous  Scipios,  the  one  over- 
threw the  Carthaginians  in  war,  the  other  totally  ruined 
and  destroyed  them ;  the  city  of  Troy  was  the  first  time 
taken  by  Hercules  for  the  horses  promised  him  by  Laome- 
don,  the  second  time  by  Agamemnon,  by  means  of  the 
celebrated  great  wooden  horse,  and   the  third  time  by 

Wooden  horse :  This  was  an  immense  wooden  horse  built  by  the  Greeks 
and  filled  with  armed  men.  The  Trojans  were  induced  to  believe  that  it  was 
designed  for  a  peace-offering  to  Minerva,  and  that  if  they  should  receive  it 
within  their  walls,  Troy  would  be  saved.    It  was  accordingly  introduced  into 


SERTORIUS.  215 

Charidemus,  by  occasion  of  a  horse  falling  down  at  the. 
gate,  which  hindered  the  Trojans,  so  that  they  could  not 
shut  them  soon  enough:  and  of  two  cities  which  take 
their  names  from  the  most  agreeable  odoriferous  plants, 
los  and  Smyrna,  the  one  from  a  violet,  the  othfer  from 
myrrh,  the  poet  Homer  is  reported  to  have  been  born  in 
the  one,  and  to  have  died  in  the  other.  And  so  to  these 
instances  let  us  further  add,  that  the  most  warlike  com- 
manders, and  most  remarkable  for  exploits  of  skilful 
stratagem,  have  had  but  one  eye ;  as  Philip,  Antigonus, 
Hannibal,  and  Sertorius,  whose  life  and  actions  we  de- 
scribe at  present ;  of  whom,  indeed,  we  might  truly  say, 
that  he  was  more  continent  than  Philip,  more  faithful  to 
his  friend  than  Antigonus,  and  more  merciful  to  his 
enemies  than  Hannibal ;  and  that  for  prudence  and  judg- 
ment he  gave  place  to  none  of  them,  but  in  fortune  was 
inferior  to  them  all.  Yet  though  he  had  continually  in 
her  a  far  more  difficult  adversary  to  contend  against  than 
his  open  enemies,  he  nevertheless  maintained  his  ground, 
with  the  military  skill  of  Metellus,  the  boldness  of  Pom- 
pey,  the  success  of  Sylla,  and  the  power  of  the  Roman 
people,  all  to  be  encountered  by  one  who  was  a  banished 
man  and  a  stranger  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  barbarians. 
Among  Greek  commanders,  Eumenes  of  Cardia  may  be 
best  compared  with  him ;  they  were  both  of  them  men  born 
for  command,  for  warfare,  and  for  stratagem ;  both  ban- 
ished from  their  countries,  and  holding  command  over 
strangers ;  both  had  fortune  for  their  adversary,  in  their 
last  days  so  harshly  so,  that  they  were  both  betrayed  and 

the  city,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  when  the  Trojans  were  asleep,  the 
men  came  forth  from  the  horse,  opened  the  gates,  and  admitted  the  whole 
Greek  army.    Thus  Troy  was  taken  and  destroyed. 


216  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

murdered  by  those  who  served  them,  and  with  whom  they 
had  formerly  overcome  their  enemies. 

Quintus  Sertorius  was  of  a  noble  family,  born  in  the 
city  of  Nursia,  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines ;  his  father 
died  when  he  was  young,  and  he  was  carefully  and  de- 
cently educated  by  his  mother  whose  name  was  Rhea, 
and  whom  he  appears  to  have  extremely  loved  and  hon- 
ored. He  paid  some  attention  to  the  study  of  oratory 
and  pleading  in  his  youth,  and  acquired  some  reputa- 
tion and  influence  iu  Rome  by  his  eloquence ;  but  the 
splendor  of  his  actions  in  arms,  and  his  successful  achieve- 
ments in  the  wars,  drew  off  his  ambition  in  that  direction. 

At  first  he  served  under  Csepio,  when  the  Cimbri  and  * 
Teutones  invaded  Gaul ;  where  the  Romans  fighting  un- 
successfully, and  being  put  to  flight,  he  was  wounded  in 
many  parts  of  his  body,  and  lost  his  horse,  yet,  never- 
theless, swam  across  the  river  Rhone  in  his  armor,  with 
his  breastplate  and  shield,  bearing  himself  up  against  the 
violence  of  the  current ;  so  strong  and  so  well  inured  to 
hardship  was  his  body. 

The  second  time  that  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  came 
down  with  some  hundreds  of  thousands,  threatening 
death  and  destruction  to  all,  when  it  was  no  small  piece 
of  service  for  a  Roman  soldier  to  keep  his  ranks  and  obey 
his  commander,  Sertorius  undertook,  while  Marius  led 
the  army,  to  spy  out  the  enemy's  camp.  Procuring  a 
Celtic  dress,  and  acquainting  himself  with  the  ordinary 
expressions  of  their  language  requisite  for  common  inter- 
course, he  threw  himself  in  amongst  the  barbarians ; 
where  having  carefully  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  or  having 

Cimbri  and  Teutones:  tribes  of  German  barbarians. 
Celtic  dress :  the  costume  of  a  barbarian. 


SERTORIUS.  217 

been  fully  informed  by  persons  upon  the  place  of  all 
their  most  important  concerns,  he  returned  to  Marius, 
from  whose  hands  he  received  the  rewards  of  valor ;  and 
afterwards  giving  frequent  proofs  both  of  conduct  and 
courage  in  all  the  following  war,  he  was  advanced  to 
places  of  honor  and  trust  under  his  general.  After  the 
wars  with  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  he  was  sent  into 
Spain,  having  the  command  of  a  thousand  men  under 
Didius,  the  Roman  general,  and  wintered  in  the  country 
of  the  Celtiberians,  in  the  city  of  Castulo,  where  the  sol- 
diers enjoying  great  plenty,  and  growing  insolent,  and 
continually  drinking,  the  inhabitants  despised  them  and 
sent  for  aid  by  night  to  the  Gyrisoenians,  their  near  neigh- 
bors, who  fell  upon  the  Romans  in  their  lodgings  and  «!ew 
a  great  number  of  them.  Sertorius,  with  a  few  oi  \^ 
soldiers,  made  his  way  out,  and  rallying  together  the  rest 
who  escaped,  he  marched  round  about  the  walls,  and  find- 
ing the  gate  open,  by  which  the  Gyrisoenians  had  made 
their  secret  entrance,  he  gave  not  them  the  same  oppor- 
tunity, but  placing  a  guard  at  the  gate,  and  seizing  upon 
all  quarters  of  the  city,  he  slew  all  who  were  of  age  to 
bear  arms,  and  then  ordering  his  soldiers  to  lay  aside  their 
weapons  and  put  off  their  own  clothes,  and  put  on  the  ac- 
coutrements of  the  barbarians,  he  commanded  them  to 
follow  him  to  the  city,  from  whence  the  men  came  who 
had  made  this  night  attack  upon  the  Romans.  And  thus 
deceiving  the  Gyrisoenians  with  the  sight  of  their  own 
armor,  he  found  the  gates  of  their  city  open,  and  took 
a  great  number  prisoners,  who  came  out  thinking  to  meet 
their  friends  and  fellow-citizens  come  home  from  a  suc- 
cessful expedition.  Most  of  them  were  thus  slain  by  the 
Romans  at  their  own  gates,  and  the  rest  within  yielded 
up  themselves  and  were  sold  for  slaves. 


218  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

This  action  made  Sertorius  highly  renowned  through- 
out all  Spain,  and  as  soon  as  he  returned  to  Rome  he  was 
appointed  quaestor  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  at  a  very  seasona- 
ble moment  for  his  country,  the  Marsian  war  being  on 
the  point  of  breaking  out.  Sertorius  was  ordered  to  raise 
soldiers  and  provide  arms,  which  he  performed  with  a 
diligence  and  alacrity,  so  contrasting  with  the  feebleness 
and  slothfulness  of  other  officers  of  his  age,  that  he  got 
the  repute  of  a  man  whose  life  would  be  one  of  action. 
Nor  did  he  relinquish  the  part  of  a  soldier,  now  that  he 
had  arrived  at  the  dignity  of  a  commander,  but  per- 
formed wonders  with  his  own  hands,  and  never  sparing 
himself,  but  exposing  his  body  freely  in  all  conflicts,  he 
lost  one  of  his  eyes.  This  he  always  esteemed  an  honor 
to  him  ;  observing  that  others  do  not  continually  carry 
about  with  them  the  marks  and  testimonies  of  their  valor, 
but  must  often  lay  aside  their  chains  of  gold,  their  spears 
and  croAvns ;  whereas  his  ensigns  of  honor,  and  the  mani- 
festations of  his  courage  always  remained  with  him,  and 
those  who  beheld  his  misfortune,  must  at  the  same  time 
recognize  his  merits.  The  people  also  paid  him  the 
respect  he  deserved,  and  when  he  came  into  the  theatre, 
received  him  with  plaudits  and  joyful  acclamations,  an 
honor  rarely  bestowed  even  on  persons  of  advanced 
standing  and  established  reputation.  Yet,  notwithstand- 
ing this  popularity,  when  he  stood  to  be  tribune  of  the 
people,  he  was  disappointed,  and  lost  the  place,  being  op- 
posed by  the  party  of  Sylla,  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
principal  cause  of  his  subsequent  enmity  to  Sylla. 

After  that  Marius  was  overcome  by  Sylla  and  fled  into 
Africa,  and  Sylla  had  left  Italy  to  go  to  the  wars  against 
Cisalpine  Gaul :  the  northern  part  of  Italy,  south  of  the  Alps. 


V 


SERTORTTTS.  219 

Mithridates,  and  of  the  two  consuls  Octavius  and  Cinna, 
Octavius  remained  steadfast  to  the  policy  of  Sylla,  but 
Cinna,  desirous  of  a  new  revolution,  attempted  to  recall 
the  lost  interest  of  Marius,  Sertorius  joined  Cinna's 
party,  more  particularly  as  he  saw  that  Octavius  was 
not  very  capable,  and  was  also  suspicious  of  any  one  that 
was  a  friend  to  Marius.  When  a  great  battle  was  fought 
between  the  two  consuls  in  the  forum,  Octavius  over- 
came, and  Cinna  and  Sertorius,  having  lost  not  less  than 
ten  thousand  men,  left  the  city,  and  gaining  over  most 
part  of  the  troops  who  were  dispersed  about  and  re- 
mained still  in  many  parts  of  Italy,  they  in  a  short  time 
mustered  up  a  force  against  Octavius  sufficient  to  give 
him  battle  again,  and  Marius,  also,  now  coming  by  sea 
out  of  Africa,  proffered  himself  to  serve  under  Cinna,  as 
a  private  soldier  under  his  consul  and  commander. 

Most  were  for  the  immediate  reception  of  Marius, 
but  Sertorius  openly  declared  against  it,  whether  he 
thought  that  Cinna  would  not  now  pay  as  much  attention 
to  himself,  when  a  man  of  higher  military  repute  was 
present,  or  feared  that  the  violence  of  Marius  would 
bring  all  things  to  confusion,  by  his  boundless  wrath  and 
vengeance  after  victory.  He  insisted  upon  it  with  Cinna 
that  they  were  already  victorious,  that  there  remained 
little  to  be  done,  and  that,  if  they  admitted  Marius,  he 
would  deprive  them  of  the  glory  and  advantage  of  the 
war,  as  there  was  no  man  less  easy  to  deal  with,  or  less 
to  be  trusted  in,  as  a  partner  in  power.  Cinna  answered, 
that  Sertorius  rightly  judged  the  affair,  but  that  he  him- 
self was  at  a  loss,  and  ashamed,  and  knew  not  how  to 
reject  him,  after  he  had  sent  for  him  to  share  in  his 
fortunes.     To   which  Sertorius  immediately  replied,  that 


220  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

he  had  thought  that  Marius  came  into  Italy  of  his  own 
accord,  and  therefore  had  deliberated  as  to  what  might  be 
most  expedient,  but  that  Cinna  ought  not  so  much  as  to 
have  questioned  whether  he  should  accept  him  whom  he 
had  already  invited,  but  should  have  honorably  received 
and  employed  him,  for  his  word  once  past  left  no  room 
for  debate.  Thus  Marius  being  sent  for  by  Cinna,  and 
their  forces  being  divided  into  three  parts,  under  Cinna, 
Marius,  and  Sertorius,  the  war  was  brought  to  a  success- 
ful conclusion;  but  those  about  Cinna  and  Marius  com- 
mitting all  manner  of  insolence  and  cruelty,  made  the 
Romans  think  the  evils  of  war  a  golden  time  in  compari- 
son. On  the  contrary,  it  is  reported  of  Sertorius,  that  he 
never  slew  any  man  in  his  anger,  to  satisfy  his  own  pri- 
vate revenge,  nor  ever  derided  any  one  whom  he  had 
overcome,  but  was  much  offended  with  Marius,  and  often 
privately  entreated  Cinna  to  use  his  power  more  moder- 
ately. And  in  the  end,  when  the  slaves  whom  Marius 
had  freed  at  his  landing  to  increase  his  army,  being  made 
not  only  his  fellow-soldiers  in  the  war,  but  also  now  his 
guard  in  his  usurpation,  enriched  and  powerful  by  his 
favor,  either  by  the  command  or  permission  of  Marius,  or 
by  their  own  lawless  violence,  committed  all  sorts  of 
crimes,  killed  their  masters,  and  abused  their  children, 
their  conduct  appeared  so  intolerable  to  Sertorius  that  he 
slew  the  whole  body  of  them,  four  thousand  in  number, 
commanding  his  soldiers  to  shoot  them  down  with  their 
javelins,  as  they  lay  encamped  together. 

Afterwards,  when  Marius  died,  and  Cinna  shortly  after 
was  slain,  when  the  younger  Marius  made  himself  consul 
against  Sertorius'  wishes  and  contrary  to  law,  when 
Carbo,  Norbanus,  and  Scipio  fought  unsuccessfully  against 


SERTORIUS.  221 

Sylla,  now  advancing  to  Rome,  when  much  was  lost  by 
the  cowardice  and  remissness  of  the  commanders,  but 
more  by  the  treacherj^  of  their  party,  when  with  the  want 
of  prudence  in  the  chief  leaders,  all  went  so  ill  that  his 
presence  could  do  no  good,  in  the  end  when  Sylla  had 
placed  his  camp  near  to  Scipio,  and  by  pretending  friend- 
ship, and  putting  him  in  hopes  of  a  peace,  corrupted  his 
army,  and  Scipio  could  not  be  made  sensible  of  this, 
although  often  forewarned  of  it  by  Sertorius,  —  at  last  he 
utterly  despaired  of  Rome,  and  hasted  into  Spain,  that  by 
taking  possession  there  beforehand,  he  might  secure  a 
refuge  to  his  friends,  from  their  misfortunes  at  home. 
Having  bad  weather  in  his  journey,  and  travelling  through 
mountainous  countries,  and  the  inhabitants  stopping  the 
way,  and  demanding  a  toll  and  money  for  passage,  those 
who  were  with  him  were  out  of  all  patience  at  the  indig- 
nity and  shame  it  would  be  for  a  proconsul  of  Rome  to 
pay  tribute  to  a  crew  of  wretched  barbarians.  But  he 
little  regarded  their  censure,  and  slighting  that  which  had 
only  the  appearance  of  rudeness,  told  them  he  must  buy 
time,  the  most  precious  of  all  things  to  those  who  go  upon 
great  enter23rises ;  and  pacifying  the  barbarous  people  with 
money,  he  hastened  his  journey,  and  took  possession  of 
Spain,  a  country  flourishing  and  populous,  abounding  with 
young  men  fit  to  bear  arms;  but  on  account  of  the  inso- 
lence and  covetousness  of  the  governors  from  time  to  time 
sent  thither  from  Rome,  they  had  generally  an  aversion  to 
the  Roman  supremacy.  He,  however,  soon  gained  the 
affection  of  their  nobles  by  intercourse  with  them,  and  the 
good  opinion  of  the  people  by  remitting  their  taxes.  But 
that  which  won  him  most  popularity,  was  his  exempting 
them  from  finding  lodgings  for  the  soldiers,  when  he  com- 


222  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

manded  his  army  to  take  up  their  winter  quarters  outside 
the  cities,  and  to  pitch  their  camp  in  the  suburbs;  and 
when  he  himself,  first  of  all,  caused  his  own  tent  to  be 
raised  without  the  walls.  Yet  not  being  willing  to  rely 
totally  upon  the  good  inclination  of  the  inhabitants,  he 
armed  all  the  Romans  who  lived  in  those  countries  that 
were  of  military  age,  and  undertook  the  building  of  ships 
and  the  making  of  all  sorts  of  warlike  engines,  by  which 
means  he  kept  the  cities  in  due  obedience,  showing  him- 
self gentle  in  all  peaceful  business,  and  at  the  same  time 
formidable  to  his  enemies  by  his  great  preparations  for 
war. 

As  soon  as  he  was  informed  that  Sylla  had  made  him- 
self master  of  Rome,  and  that  the  party  which  sided  with 
Marius  and  Carbo  was  going  to  destruction,  he  expected 
that  some  commander  with  a  considerable  army  would 
speedily  come  against  him,  and  therefore  sent  away  Julius 
Salinator  immediately,  with  six  thousand  men  fully  armed, 
to  fortify  and  defend  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees.  And 
Caius  Annius  not  long  after  being  sent  out  by  Sylla,  find- 
ing Julius  unassailable,  sat  down  short  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  in  perplexity.  But  a  certain  Calpurnius,  sur- 
named  Lanarius,  having  treacherously  slain  Julius,  and  his 
soldiers  then  forsaking  the  heights  of  the  Pyrenees,  Caius 
Annius  advanced  with  large  numbers  and  drove  before 
him  all  who  endeavored  to  hinder  his  march.  Sertorius, 
also,  not  being  strong  enough  to  give  him  battle,  retreated 
with  three  thousand  men  into  New  Carthage,  where  he 
took  shipping,  and  crossed  the  seas  into  Africa.  And 
coming  near  the  coast  of  Mauritania,  his  men  went  on 
shore  for  water,  and  straggling  about  negligently,  the 
natives  fell  upon  them  and  slew  a  great  number.     This 


SERTORIUS.  223 

new  misfortune  forced  him  to  sail  back  again  into  Spain, 
whence  he  was  also  repulsed,  and,  some  Cilician  pirate 
ships  joining  with  him,  they  made  for  the  island  of  Pity- 
ussa,^  where  they  landed  and  overpowered  the  garrison 
placed  there  by  Annius,  who,  however,  came  not  long 
after  with  a  great  fleet  of  ships,  and  five  thousand  soldiers. 
And  Sertorius  made  ready  to  fight  him  by  sea,  although 
his  ships  were  not  built  for  strength,  but  for  lightness  and 
swift  sailing ;  but  a  violent  west  wind  raised  such  a  sea 
that  many  of  them  were  run  aground  and  shipwrecked, 
and  he  himself,  with  a  few  vessels,  being  kept  from  put- 
ting further  out  to  sea  by  the  fury  of  the  weather,  and 
from  landing  by  the  power  of  his  enemies,  was  tossed  about 
painfully  for  ten  days  together,  amidst  the  boisterous  and 
adverse  waves. 

He  escaped  with  difficulty,  and  after  the  wind  ceased, 
ran  for  certain  desert  islands  scattered  in  those  seas, 
affording  no  water,  and  after  passing  a  night  there,  mak- 
ing out  to  sea  again,  he  went  through  the  straits  of  Cadiz,^ 
and  sailing  outward,  keeping  the  Spanish  shore  on  his 
right  hand,  he  landed  a  little  above  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Bsetis,  where  it  falls  into  the  Atlantic  sea,  and  gives  the 
name  to  that  part  of  Spain.  Here  he  met  with  seamen 
recently  arrived  from  the  Atlantic  islands,  two  in  number, 
divided  from  one  another  only  by  a  narrow  channel,  and 
distant  from  the  coast  of  Africa  ten  thousand  furlongs. 
These  are  called  the  Islands  of  the  Blest;  rains  fall  there 
seldom,  and  in  moderate  showers,  but  for  the  most  part 
they  have  gentle  breezes,  bringing  along  with  them  soft 

1  The  modern  Ivica.  2  The  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 

Islands  of  the  Blest ;  supposed  to  have  been  the  Canary  and  Madeira 
Islands. 


224  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

dews,  wliicli  render  the  soil  not  only  rich  for  ploughing 
and  planting,  but  so  abundantly  fruitful  that  it  produces 
spontaneously  an  abundance  of  delicate  fruits,  sufficient  to 
feed  the  inhabitants,  who  may  here  enjoy  all  things  with- 
out trouble  or  labor.  The  seasons  of  the  year  are  temper- 
ate, and  the  transitions  from  one  to  another  so  moderate, 
that  the  air  is  almost  always  serene  and  pleasant.  The 
rough  northerly  and  easterly  winds  which  blow  from  the 
coasts  of  Europe  and  Africa,  dissipated  in  the  vast  open 
space,  utterly  lose  their  force  before  they  reach  the  islands. 
The  soft  western  and  southerly  winds  which  breathe  upon 
them  sometimes  produce  gentle  sprinkling  showers,  which 
they  convey  along  with  them  from  the  sea,  but  more 
usually  bring  days  of  moist  bright  weather,  cooling  and 
gently  fertilizing  the  soil,  so  that  the  firm  belief  prevails 
even  among  the  barbarians,  that  this  is  the  seat  of  the 
blessed,  and  that  these  are  the  Elysian  Fields  celebrated 
by  Homer.^ 

When  Sertorius  heard  this  account,  he  was  seized  with 
a  wonderful  passion  for  these  islands,  and  had  an  extreme 
desire  to  go  and  live  there  in  peace  and  quietness,  and 
safe  from  oppression  and  unending  wars ;  but  his  inclina- 
tions being  perceived  by  the  Cilician  pirates,  who  desired 
not  peace  nor  quiet,  but  riches  and  spoils,  they  immedi- 
ately forsook  him,  and  sailed  away  into  Africa  to  assist 
Ascalis,  the  son  of  Iphtha,  and  to  help  to  restore  him  to 
his  kingdom  of  Mauritania.  Their  sudden  departure 
noways  discouraged  Sertorius;   he  presently  resolved  to 

1  Menelaus  shall  not  die  in  Argos ;  the  deities  will  convey  him  to  the  Elys- 
ian field,  and  the  limits  of  the  earth,  where  the  yellow-haired  Rhadamanthus 
lives.  In  that  land  man's  life  is  easiest;  there  is  no  snow,  no  long  bad  weather, 
and  no  falls  of  rain;  but  Oceanus  sends  in  to  refresh  them  continually  the 
whistling  breezes  of  Zephyrus.—  OcZysse?/,  iv.  563. 


yTh 


SERTORIUS.  ^"^/^      ^^^ 

assist  the  enemies  of  Ascalis,  and  by  this  new  adventure 
trusted  to  keep  his  soldiers  together,  who  from  this  might 
conceive  new  hopes,  and  a  prospect  of  a  new  scene  of 
action.  His  arrival  in  Mauritana  being  very  acceptable 
to  the  Moors,  he  lost  no  time,  but  immediately  giving  bat- 
tle to  Ascalis,  beat  him  out  of  the  field  and  besieged  him ; 
and  Paccianus  being  sent  by  Sylla,  with  a  powerful  sup- 
ply, to  raise  the  siege,  Sertorius  slew  him  in  the  field, 
gained  over  all  his  forces,  and  took  the  city  of  Tingis, 
into  which  Ascalis  and  his  brothers  were  fled  for  refuge. 

When  Sertorius  had  made  himself  absolute  master  of 
the  whole  country,  he  acted  with  great  fairness  to  those 
who  had  confided  in  him,  and  who  yielded  to  his  mercy ; 
he  restored  to  them  their  property,  cities,  and  govern- 
ment, accepting  only  of  such  acknowledgments  as  they 
themselves  freely  offered.  And  whilst  he  considered 
which  way  next  to  turn  his  arms,  the  Lusitanians  sent 
ambassadors  to  desire  him  to  be  their  general ;  for  being 
terrified  with  the  Roman  power,  and  finding  the  necessity 
of  having  a  commander  of  great  authority  and  experience 
in  war,  being  also  sufficiently  assured  of  his  worth  and 
valor  by  those  who  had  formerly  known  him,  they  were 
desirous  to  commit  themselves  especially  to  his  care. 
And  in  fact  Sertorius  is  said  to  have  been  of  a  temper 
unassailable  either  by  fear  or  pleasure,  in  adversity  and 
dangers  undaunted,  and  noways  puffed  up  with  prosper- 
ity. In  straightforward  fighting,  no  commander  in  his 
time  was  more  bold  and  daring,  and  in  whatever  was  to 
be  performed  in  war  by  stratagem,  secrecy,  or  surprise,  if 
any  strong  place  was  to  be  secured,  any  pass  to  be  gained 
speedily,  for  deceiving  and  overreaching  an  enemy,  there 
was  no  man  equal  to  him  in  subtlety  and  skill.     In  be- 


226  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

stowing  rewards  and  conferring  honors  upon  those  who 
had  performed  good  service  in  the  wars  he  was  bountiful 
and  magnificent,  and  was  no  less  sparing  and  moderate 
in  inflicting  punishment.  It  is  true  that  that  piece  of 
harshness  and  cruelty  which  he  executed  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  days  upon  the  Spanish  hostages,  seems  to 
argue  that  his  clemency  was  not  natural  to  him,  but  only 
worn  as  a  dress,  and  employed  upon  calculation,  as  his 
occasion  or  necessity  required.  As  to  my  own  opinion,  I 
am  persuaded  that  pure  virtue,  established  by  reason  and 
judgment,  can  never  be  totally  perverted  or  changed  into 
its  opposite,  by  any  misfortune  whatever.  Yet  I  think 
it  at  the  same  time  possible,  that  virtuous  inclinations 
and  natural  good  qualities  may,  when  unworthily  oppressed 
by  calamities,  show,  with  change  of  fortune,  some  change 
and  alteration  of  their  temper;  and  thus  I  conceive  it 
happened  to  Sertorius,  who  when  prosperity  failed  him, 
became  exasperated  by  his  disasters  against  those  who 
had  done  him  wrong. 

The  Lusitanians  having  sent  for  Sertorius,  he  left 
Africa,  and  being  made  general  with  absolute  authority, 
he  put  all  in  order  amongst  them,  and  brought  the  neigh- 
boring parts  of  Spain  under  subjection.  Most  of  the 
tribes  voluntarily  submitted  themselves,  won  by  the  fame 
of  his  clemency  and  of  his  courage,  and,  to  some  extent, 
also,  he  availed  himself  of  cunning  artifices  of  his  own  de- 
vising to  impose  upon  them  and  gain  influence  over  them. 
Amongst  which,  certainly,  that  of  the  hind  was  not  the 
least.  Spanus,  a  countryman  who  lived  in  those  parts, 
meeting  by  chance  a  hind  that  had  recently  calved,  flying 
from  the  hunters,  let  the  dam  go,  and  pursuing  the  fawn, 

Hind:  the  female  of  the  red-deer. 


SERTORIUS.  227 

took  it,  being  wonderfully  pleased  with  the  rarity  of  the 
color,  which  was  all  milk-white.  And  as  at  that  time 
Sertorius  was  living  in  the  neighborhood,  and  accepted 
gladly  any  presents  of  fruit,  fowl,  or  venison,  that  the 
country  afforded,  and  rewarded  liberally  those  who  pre- 
sented them,  the  countryman  brought  him  his  young 
hind,  which  he  took  and  was  well  pleased  with  at  the  first 
sight,  but  when  in  time  he  had  made  it  so  tame  and  gen- 
tle that  it  would  come  when  he  called,  and  follow  him 
wheresoever  he  went,  and  could  endure  the  noise  and 
tumult  of  the  camp,  knowing  well  that  uncivilized  people 
are  naturally  prone  to  superstition,  by  little  and  little  he 
raised  it  into  something  preternatural,  saying  that  it  was 
given  him  by  the  goddess  Diana,  and  that  it  revealed 
to  him  many  secrets.  He  added,  also,  further  contriv- 
ances. If  he  had  received  at  any  time  private  intelli- 
gence that  the  enemies  had  made  an  incursion  into  any 
part  of  the  districts  under  his  command,  or  had  solicited 
any  city  to  revolt,  he  pretended  that  the  hind  had  in- 
formed him  of  it  in  his  sleep,  and  charged  him  to  keep 
his  forces  in  readiness.  Or  if  again  he  had  notice  that 
any  of  the  commanders  under  him  had  got  a  victory,  he 
would  hide  the  messengers  and  bring  forth  the  hind 
crowned  with  flowers,  for  joy. of  the  good  news  that 
was  to  come,  and  would  encourage  them  to  rejoice  and 
sacrifice  to  the  gods  for  the  good  account  they  should 
soon  receive  of  their  prosperous  success. 

By  such  practices,  he  brought  them  to  be  more  tractable 
and  obedient  in  all  things ;  for  now  they  thought  them- 
selves no  longer  to  be  led  by  a  stranger,  but  rather  con- 
ducted by  a  god,  and  the  more  so,  as  the  facts  themselves 
seemed  to  bear  witness  to  it,  his  power,  contrary  to  all  ex- 


228  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

pectation  or  probability,  continually  increasing.  For  with 
two  thousand  six  hundred  men,  whom  for  honor's  sake  he 
.  called  Romans,  combined  with  seven  hundred  Africans, 
who  landed  with  him  when  he  first  entered  Lusitania, 
together  with  four  thousand  targeteers,  and  seven  hundred 
horse  of  the  Lusitanians  themselves,  he  made  war  against 
four  Roman  generals,  who  commanded  a  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  foot,  six  thousand  horse,  two  thousand 
archers  and  slingers,  and  had  cities  innumerable  in  their 
power ;  whereas  at  the  first  he  had  not  above  twenty  cities 
in  all.  And  from  this  weak  and  slender  beginning,  he 
raised  himself  to  the  command  of  large  nations  of  men, 
and  the  possession  of  numerous  cities ;  and  of  the  Roman 
commanders  who  were  sent  against  him,  he  overthrew 
Cotta  in  a  sea-fight,  in  the  channel  near  the  town  of 
Mellaria ;  he  routed  Fufidius,  the  governor  of  Bsetica,  with 
the  loss  of  two  thousand  Romans,  near  the  banks  of  the 
river  Baetis;  Lucius  Domitius,  proconsul  of  the  other 
province  of  Spain,  was  overthrown  by  one  of  his  lieuten- 
ants ;  Thoranius,  another  commander  sent  against  him  by 
Metellus  with  a  great  force,  was  slain,  and  Metellus,  one 
of  the  greatest  and  most  approved  Roman  generals  then 
living,  by  a  series  of  defeats,  was  reduced  to  such  extremi- 
ties, that  Lucius  Manlius  came  to  his  assistance  out  of 
Gallia  Narbonensis,  and  Pompey  the  Great  was  sent  from 
Rome  itself,  in  all  haste,  with  considerable  forces.  Nor 
did  Metellus  know  which  way  to  turn  himself,  in  a  war 
with  such  a  bold  and  ready  commander,  who  was  contin- 
ually molesting  him,  and  yet  could  not  be  brought  to  a  set 
battle,  but  by  the  swiftness  and  dexterity  of  his  Spanish 
soldiery,  was  enabled  to  shift  and  adapt  himself  to  any 
change  of  circumstances.     Metellus  had  had  experience  in 


SERTORIUS.  229 

battles  fought  by  regular  legions  of  soldiers,  fully  armed 
and  drawn  up  in  due  order  into  a  heavy  standing  phalanx, 
admirably  trained  for  encountering  and  overpowering  an 
enemy  who  came  to  close  combat,  hand  to  hand,  but  en- 
tirely unfit  for  climbing  among  the  hills,  and  competing 
incessantly  with  the  swift  attacks  and  retreats  of  a  set  of 
fleet  mountaineers,  or  to  endure  hunger  and  thirst,  and  live 
exposed  like  them  to  the  wind  and  weatherj^ithout  fire  ^ 
or  covering.  ^O-:^^      ^  A^ 

Besides,  being  now  in  years,  and  having  been  formerly 
engaged  in  many  fights  and  dangerous  conflicts,  he  had 
grown  inclined  to  a  more  remiss,  easy,  and  luxurious  life, 
and  was  the  less  able  to  contend  with  Sertorius,  who  was 
in  the  prime  of  his  strength  and  vigor,  and  had  a  body 
wonderfully  fitted  for  war,  being  strong,  active,  and  tem- 
perate, continually  accustomed  to  endure  hard  labor,  to 
take  long  tedious  journeys,  to  pass  many  nights  together 
without  sleep,  to  eat  little,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  very 
coarse  fare,  and  who  was  never  stained  with  the  least 
excess  in  wine,  even  when  he  was  most  at  leisure.  What 
leisure  time  he  allowed  himself,  he  spent  in  hunting  and 
riding  about,  and  so  made  himself  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  every  passage  for  escape  when  he  would  fly,  and  for 
overtaking  and  intercepting  in  pursuit,  and  gained  a  per- 
fect knowledge  of  where  he  could  and  where  he  could  not 
go.  Insomuch  that  Metellus  suffered  all  the  inconven- 
iences of  defeat,  although  he  earnestly  desired  to  fight, 
and  Sertorius,  though  he  refused  the  field,  reaped  all  the 
advantages  of  a  conqueror.  For  he  hindered  them  from 
foraging,  and  cut  them  off  from  water ;  if  they  advanced, 
he  was  nowhere  to  be  found ;  if  they  stayed  in  any  place 
and  encamped,  he  continually  molested  and  alarmed  them  ; 


230  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

if  they  besieged  any  town,  he  presently  appeared  and  be- 
sieged them  again,  and  put  them  to  extremities  for  want 
of  necessaries.  And  thus  he  so  wearied  out  the  Roman 
army,  that  when  Sertorius  challenged  Metellus  to  fight 
singly  with  him,  they  commended  it,  and  cried  out,  it  was 
a  fair  offer,  a  Roman  to  fight  against  a  Roman,  and  a  gen- 
eral against  a  general;  and  when  Metellus  refused  the 
challenge,  they  reproached  him.  Metellus  derided  and 
contemned  this,  and  rightly  so ;  for,  as  Theophrastus  ob- 
serves, a  general  should  die  like  a  general,  and  not  like  a 
skirmisher.  But  perceiving  that  the  town  of  the  Lango- 
britse,  who  gave  great  assistance  to  Sertorius,  might  easily 
be  taken  for  want  of  water,  as  there  was  but  one  well 
within  the  walls,  and  the  besieger  would  be  master  of  the 
springs  and  fountains  in  the  suburbs,  he  advanced  against 
the  place,  expecting  to  carry  it  in  two  days'  time,  there 
being  no  more  water,  and  gave  command  to  his  soldiers  to 
take  five  days'  provision  only.  Sertorius,  however,  resolv- 
ing to  send  speedy  relief,  ordered  two  thousand  skins  to  be 
filled  with  water,  naming  a  considerable  sum  of  money  for 
the  carriage  of  every  skin ;  and  many  Spaniards  and  Moors 
undertaking  the  work,  he  chose  out  those  who  were  the 
strongest  and  swiftest  of  foot,  and  sent  them  through  the 
mountains,  with  order  that  when  they  had  delivered  the 
water,  they  should  convey  away  privately  all  those  who 
would  be  least  serviceable  in  the  siege,  that  there  might  be 
water  sufficient  for  the  defendants.  As  soon  as  Metellus 
understood  this,  he  was  disturbed,  as  he  had  already  con- 
sumed most  part  of  the  necessary  provisions  for  his  army, 
but  he  sent  out  Aquinus  with  six  thousand  soldiers  to 
fetch  in  fresh  supplies.  But  Sertorius  having  notice  of  it, 
laid  an  ambush  for  him,  and  having  sent  out  beforehand 


SERTORIUS.  231 

three  thousand  men  to  take  post  in  a  thickly  wooded  water- 
course, with  these  he  attacked  the  rear  of  Aquinus  in  his 
return,  while  he  himself,  charging  him  in  the  front,  de- 
stroyed part  of  his  army,  and  took  the  rest  prisoners,  Aqui- 
nus only  escaping,  after  the  loss  of  both  his  horse  and  his 
armor.  And  Metellus,  being  forced  shamefully  to  raise 
the  siege,  withdrew  amidst  the  laughter  and  contempt  of 
the  Spaniards ;  while  Sertorius  became  yet  more  the  object 
of  their  esteem  and  admiration. 

He  was  also  highly  honored  for  his  introducing  disci- 
pline and  good  order  amongst  them,  for  he  altered  their 
furious,  savage  manner  of  fighting,  and  brought  them  to 
make  use  of  the  Roman  armor,  taught  them  to  keep  their 
ranks,  and  observe  signals  and  watchwords ;  and  out  of  a 
confused  number  of  thieves  and  robbers,  he  constituted  a 
regular,  well-disciplined  army.  He  bestowed  silver  and 
gold  upon  them  liberally  to  gild  and  adorn  their  helmets, 
he  had  their  shields  worked  with  various  figures  and 
designs,  he  brought  them  into  the  mode  of  wearing  flow- 
ered and  embroidered  cloaks  and  coats,  and  by  supplying 
money  for  these  purposes,  and  joining  with  them  in  all 
improvements,  he  won  the  hearts  of  all.  That,  however, 
which  delighted  them  most,  was  the  care  that  he  took  of 
their  children.  He  sent  for  all  the  boys  of  noblest  parent- 
age out  of  all  their  tribes,  and  placed  them  in  the  great 
city  of  Osca,  where  he  appointed  masters  to  instruct  them 
in  the  Grecian  and  Roman  learning,  that  when  they  came 
to  be  men,  they  might,  as  he  professed,  be  fitted  to  share 
with  him  in  authority,  and  in  conducting  the  government, 
although  under  this  pretext  he  really  made  them  hostages. 
However,  their  fathers  were  wonderfully  pleased  to  see 
their  children  going  daily  to  the  schools  in  good  order. 


232  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

handsomely  dressed  in  gowns  edged  with  purple,  and  that 
Sertorius  paid  for  their  lessons,  examined  them  often,  dis- 
tributed rewards  to  the  most  deserving,  and  gave  them  the 
golden  bosses  to  hang  about  their  necks,  which  the  Romans 
called  bullae. 

There  being  a  custom  in  Spain,  that  when  a  commander 
was  slain  in  battle,  those  who  attended  his  person  fought 
it  out  till  they  all  died  with  him,  which  the  inhabitants  of 
those  countries  called  an  offering^  or  libation,  there  were 
few  commanders  that  had  any  considerable  guard  or  num- 
ber of  attendants;  but  Sertorius  was  followed  by  many 
thousands  who  offered  themselves,  and  vowed  to  spend 
their  blood  with  his.  And  it  is  told  that  when  his  army 
was  defeated  near  a  city  in  Spain,  and  the  enemy  pressed 
hard  upon  them,  the  Spaniards,  with  no  care  for  them- 
selves, but  being  totally  solicitous  to  save  Sertorius,  took 
him  up  on  their  shoulders  and  passed  him  from  one  to 
another,  till  they  carried  him  into  the  city,  and  only  when 
they  had  thus  placed  their  general  in  safety,  provided 
afterwards  each  man  for  his  own  security. 

Nor  were  the  Spaniards  alone  ambitious  to  serve  him, 
but  the  Roman  soldiers,  also,  that  came  out  of  Italy,  were 
impatient  to  be  under  his  command ;  and  when  Perpenna 
Vento,  who  was  of  the  same  faction  with  Sertorius,  came 
into  Spain  with  a  quantity  of  money  and  a  large  number 
of  troops,  and  designed  to  make  war  against  Metellus  on 
his  own  account,  his  own  soldiers  opposed  it,  and  talked 
continually  of  Sertorius,  much  to  the  mortification  of  Per- 
penna, who  was  puffed  up  with  the  grandeur  of  his  family 
and  his  riches.  And  when  they  afterwards  received  tid- 
ings that  Pompey  was  passing  the  Pyrenees,  they  took  up 
Bullse :  small  ornaments  shaped  like  a  ball  or  bubble. 


SERTORIUS.  233 

their  arms,  laid  hold  on  their  ensigns,  called  upon  Per- 
penna  to  lead  them  to  Sertorius,  and  threatened  him  that 
if  he  refused,  they  would  go  without  him,  and  place  them- 
selves under  a  commander  who  was  able  to  defend  himself 
and  those  that  served  him.  And  so  Perpenna  was  obliged 
to  yield  to  their  desires,  and  joining  Sertorius,  added  to 
his  army  three  and  fifty  cohorts. 

And  when  now  all  the  cities  on  this  side  of  the  river 
Ebro  also  united  their  forces  together  under  his  com- 
mand, his  army  grew  great,  for  they  flocked  together  and 
flowed  in  upon  him  from  all  quarters.  But  when  they 
continually  cried  out  to  attack  the  enemy,  and  were  impa- 
tient of  delay,  their  inexperienced,  disorderly  rashness 
caused  Sertorius  much  trouble,  who  at  first  strove  to 
restrain  them  with  reason  and  good  counsel,  but  when  he 
perceived  them  refractory  and  unseasonably  violent,  he  gave 
way  to  their  impetuous  desires,  and  permitted  them  to 
engage  with  the  enem}^,  in  such  sort  that  they  might,  being 
repulsed,  yet  not  totally  routed,  become  more  obedient  to 
his  commands  for  the  future.  Which  happening  as  he  had 
anticipated,  he  soon  rescued  them,  and  brought  them  safe 
into  his  camp.  And  after  a  few  days,  being  willing  to 
encourage  them  again,  when  he  had  called  all  his  army 
together,  he  caused  two  horses  to  be  brought  into  the  field, 
one  an  old,  feeble,  lean  animal,  the  other  a  lusty,  strong 
horse,  with  a  remarkably  thick  and  long  tail.  Near  the 
lean  one  he  placed  a  tall  strong  man,  and  near  the  strong 
young  horse  a  weak  despicable-looking  fellow;  and  at  a 
sign  given,  the  strong  man  took  hold  of  the  weak  horse's 
tail  with  both  his  hands,  and  drew  it  to  him  with  his  whole 
force,  as  if  he  would  pull  it  off*;  the  other,  the  weak  man, 
in  the  mean  time,  set  to  work  to  pluck  off  hair  by  hair 


234  PLUTARCH^S   LIVES. 

from  the  great  horse's  tail.  And  when  the  strong  man  had 
given  trouble  enough  to  himself  in  vain,  and  sufficient 
diversion  to  the  company,  and  had  abandoned  his  attempt, 
whilst  the  weak,  pitiful  fellow  in  a  short  time  and  with  lit- 
tle pains  had  left  not  a  hair  on  the  great  horse's  tail,  Serto- 
rius  rose  up  and  spoke  to  his  army,  "You  see,  fellow- 
soldiers,  that  perseverance  is  more  prevailing  than  violence, 
and  that  many  things  which  cannot  be  overcome  when 
they  are  together,  yield  themselves  up  when  taken  little 
by  little.  Assiduity  and  persistence  are  irresistible,  and  in 
time  overthrow  and  destroy  the  greatest  powers  wliatever. 
Time  being  the  favorable  friend  and  assistant  of  those  who 
use  their  judgment  to  await  his  occasions,  and  the  destruc- 
tive enemy  of  those  who  are  unseasonably  urging  and 
pressing  forward."  With  a  frequent  use  of  such  words 
and  such  devices,  he  soothed  the  fierceness  of  the  barba- 
rous people,  and  taught  them  to  attend  and  watch  for  their 
opportunities. 

Of  all  his  remarkable  exploits,  none  raised  greater  admi- 
ration than  that  which  he  put  in  practice  against  the  Cha- 
racitanians.  These  are  a  people  beyond  the  river  Tagus, 
who  inhabit  neither  cities  nor  towns,  but  live  in  a  vast 
high  hill,  within  the  deep  dens  and  caves  of  the  rocks,  the 
mouths  of  which  open  all  towards  the  north.  The  country 
below  is  of  a  soil  resembling  a  light  clay,  so  loose  as  easily 
to  break  into  powder,  and  is  not  firm  enough  to  bear  any 
one  that  treads  upon  it,  and  if  you  touch  it  in  the  least,  it 
flies  about  like  ashes  or  unslaked  lime.  In  any  danger  of 
war,  these  people  descend  into  their  caves,  and  carrying  in 
their  booty  and  prey  along  with  them,  stay  quietly  within, 
secure  from  every  attack.  And  when  Sertorius,  leaving 
Metellus  some  distance  off,  had  placed  his  camp  near  this 


SERTORTUS.  235 

hill,  they  slighted  and  despised  him,  imagining  that  he 
retired  into  these  parts,  being  overthrown  by  the  Romans. 
And  whether  out  of  anger  and  resentment,  or  out  of  his 
unwillingness  to  be  thought  to  fly  from  his  enemies,  early 
in  the  morning  he  rode  up  to  view  the  situation  of  the 
place.  But  finding  there  was  no  way  to  come  at  it,  as  he 
rode  about,  threatening  them  in  vain  and  disconcerted,  he 
took  notice  that  the  wind  raised  the  dust  and  carried  it  up 
towards  the  caves  of  the  Characitanians,  the  mouths  of 
which,  as  I  said  before,  opened  towards  the  north ;  and  the 
northerly  wind,  prevailing  most  in  those  parts,  coming  up 
out  of  moist  plains  or  mountains  covered  with  snow,  at 
this  particular  time,  in  the  heat  of  summer,  being  further 
supplied  and  increased  by  the  melting  of  the  ice  in  the 
northern  regions,  blew  a  delightful  fresh  gale,  cooling  and 
refreshing  the  Characitanians  and  their  cattle  all  the  day 
long.  Sertorius,  considering  well  all  circumstances  in 
which  either  the  information  of  the  inhabitants,  or  his  own 
experience  had  instructed  him,  commanded  his  soldiers  to 
shovel  up  a  great  quantity  of  this  light,  dusty  earth,  to 
heap  it  up  together,  and  make  a  mount  of  it  over  against 
the  hill  in  which  these  barbarous  people  resided,  who, 
imagining  that  all  this  preparation  was  for  raising  a  mound 
to  get  at  them,  only  mocked  and  laughed  at  it.  However, 
he  continued  the  work  till  the  evening,  and  brought  his 
soldiers  back  into  their  camp.  The  next  morning  a  gentle 
breeze  at  first  arose,  and  moved  the  lightest  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  dispersed  it  about  as  the  chaff  before  the  wind ; 
but  when  the  sun  coming  to  be  higher,  the  strong  northerly 
wind  had  covered  the  hills  with  the  dust,  the  soldiers  came 
and  turned  this  mound  of  earth  over  and  over,  and  broke  the 
hard  clods  in  pieces,  whilst  others  on  horseback  rode  through 


236  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

it  backward  and  forward,  and  raised  a  cloud  of  dust  into 
the  air :  there  with  the  wind  the  whole  of  it  was  carried  away 
and  blown  into  the  dwellings  of  the  Characitanians,  all 
lying  open  to  the  north.  And  there  being  no  other  vent 
or  breathing-place  than  that  through  which  the  north  wind 
rushed  in  upon  them,  it  quickly  blinded  their  eyes,  and 
filled  their  lungs,  and  all  but  choked  them,  whilst  they 
strove  to  draw  in  the  rough  air  mingled  with  dust  and 
powdered  earth.  Nor  were  they  able,  with  all  they  could 
do,  to  hold  out  above  two  days,  but  yielded  up  themselves 
on  the  third,  adding,  by  their  defeat,  not  so  much  to  the 
power  of  Sertorius,  as  to  his  renown,  in  proving  that  he 
was  able  to  conquer  places  by  art,  which  were  impregnable 
by  the  force  of  arms. 

So  long  as  he  had  to  do  with  Metellus,  he  was  thought 
to  owe  his  successes  to  his  opponent's  age  and  slow  tem- 
per, which  were  ill-suited  for  coping  with  the  daring  and 
activity  of  one  who  commanded  a  light  army  more  like  a 
band  of  robbers  than  regular  soldiers.  But  when  Pompey 
also  passed  over  the  Pyrenees,  and  Sertorius  pitched  his 
camp  near  him,  and  offered  and  himself  accepted  every 
occasion  by  which  military  skill  could  be  put  to  the  proof, 
and  in  this  contest  of  dexterity  was  found  to  have  the  bet- 
ter, both  in  baffling  his  enemy's  designs  and  in  counter- 
scheming  himself,  the  fame  of  him  now  spread  even  to 
Rome  itself,  as  the  most  expert  commander  of  his  time. 
For  the  renown  of  Pompey  was  not  small,  who  had  already 
won  much  honor  by  his  achievements  in  the  wars  of  Sylla, 
from  whom  he  received  the  title  of  Pompey  the  Great; 
and  who  had  risen  to  the  honor  of  a  triumph  before  the 
beard  had  grown  on  his  face.  And  many  cities  which 
were  under  Sertorius  were  on  the  very  eve  of  revolting 


SERTORIUS.  237 

and  going  over  to  Pompey,  when  they  were  deterred  from 
it  by  that  great  action,  amongst  others,  which  he  per- 
formed near  the  city  of  Lauron,  contrary  to  the  expecta- 
tion of  all. 

For  Sertorius  had  laid  siege  to  Lauron,  and  Pompey 
came  with  his  whole  army  to  relieve  it;  and  there  being  a 
hill  near  this  city  very  advantageously  situated,  they  both 
made  haste  to  take  it.  Sertorius  was  beforehand,  and  took 
possession  of  it  first,  and  Pompey,  having  drawn  down  his 
forces,  was  not  sorry  that  it  had  thus  happened,  imagining 
that  he  had  hereby  inclosed  his  enemy  between  his  own 
army  and  the  city,  and  sent  in  a  messenger  to  the  citizens 
of  Lauron,  to  bid  them  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  come 
upon  their  walls,  where  they  might  see  their  besieger  be- 
sieged. Sertorius,  perceiving  their  intentions,  smiled,  and 
said,  he  would  now  teach  Sylla's  scholar,  for  so  he  called 
Pompey  in  derision,  that  it  was  the  part  of  a  general  to 
look  as  well  behind  him  as  before  him,  and  at  the  same 
time  showed  them  six  thousand  soldiers,  whom  he  had  left 
in  his  former  camp,  from  whence  he  marched  out  to  take 
the  hill,  where  if  Pompey  should  assault  him,  they  might 
fall  upon  his  rear.  Pompey  discovered  this  too  late,  and 
not  daring  to  give  battle,  for  fear  of  being  encompassed, 
and  yet  being  ashamed  to  desert  his  friends  and  confed- 
erates in  their  extreme  danger,  was  thus  forced  to  sit  still, 
and  see  them  ruined  before  his  face.  For  the  besieged 
despaired  of  relief,  and  delivered  themselves  up  to  Serto- 
rius, who  spared  their  lives  and  granted  them  their  liberty, 
but  burnt  their  city,  not  out  of  anger  or  cruelty,  for  of  all 
commanders  that  ever  were,  Sertorius  seems  least  of  all  to 
have  indulged  these  passions,  but  only  for  the  greater 
shame  and  confusion  of  the  admirers  of  Pompey,  and  that 


238  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

it  might  be  reported  amongst  the  Spaniards,  that  though 
he  had  been  so  close  to  the  fire  which  burnt  down  the  city 
of  his  confederates  as  actually  to  feel  the  heat  of  it,  he 
still  had  not  dared  to  make  any  opposition. 

Sertorius,  however,  sustained  many  losses  ;  but  he  always 
maintained  himself  and  those  immediately  with  him  unde- 
feated, and  it  was  by  other  commanders  under  him  that  he 
suffered ;  and  he  was  more  admired  for  being  able  to  repair 
his  losses,  and  for  recovering  the  victory,  than  the  Roman 
generals  against  him  for  gaining  these  advantages;  as  at 
the  battle  of  the  Sucro  against  Pompey,  and  at  the  battle 
near  Tuttia,  against  him  and  Metellus  together.  The 
battle  near  the  Sucro  was  fought,  it  is  said,  through  the 
impatience  of  Pompey,  lest  Metellus  should  share  with 
him  in  the  victory,  Sertorius  being  also  willing  to  engage 
Pompey  before  the  arrival  of  Metellus.  Sertorius  delayed 
the  time  till  the  evening,  considering  that  the  darkness  of 
the  night  would  be  a  disadvantage  to  his  enemies,  whether 
flying  or  pursuing,  being  strangers,  and  having  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  country.  When  the  fight  began,  it  happened 
that  Sertorius  was  not  placed  directly  against  Pompey,  but 
against  Afranius,  who  had  command  of  the  left  wing  of 
the  Roman  army,  as  he  commanded  the  right  wing  of  his 
own ;  but  when  he  understood  that  his  left  wing  began  to 
give  way,  and  yield  to  the  assault  of  Pompey,  he  com- 
mitted the  care  of  his  right  wing  to  other  commanders, 
and  made  haste  to  relieve  those  in  distress ;  and  rallying 
some  that  were  flying,  and  encouraging  others  that  still 
kept  their  ranks,  he  renewed  the  fight,  and  attacked  the 
enemy  in  their  pursuit  so  effectively  as  to  cause  a  consid- 
erable rout,  and  brought  Pompey  into  great  danger  of  his 
life.     For  after  being  wounded  and  losing  his  horse,  he 


SERTORIUS.  239 

escaped  unexpectedly.  For  the  Africans  with  Sertorius, 
who  took  Pompey's  horse,  set  out  with  gold,  and  covered 
with  rich  trappings,  fell  out  with  one  another ;  and  upon 
the  dividing  of  the  spoil,  gave  over  the  pursuit.  Afranius, 
in  the  mean  time,  as  soon  as  Sertorius  had  left  his  right 
wing,  to  assist  the  other  part  of  his  army,  overthrew  all 
that  opposed  him ;  and  pursuing  them  to  their  camp,  fell 
in  together  with  them,  and  plundered  them  till  it  was  dark 
night ;  knowing  nothing  of  Pompey's  overthrow,  nor  being 
able  to  restrain  his  soldiers  from  pillaging ;  when  Sertorius, 
returning  with  victory,  fell  upon  him  and  upon  his  men, 
who  were  all  in  disorder,  and  slew  many  of  them.  And 
the  next  morning  he  came  into  the  field  again,  well  armed, 
and  offered  battle,  but  perceiving  that  Metellus  was  near, 
he  drew  off,  and  returned  to  his  camp,  saying,  "  If  this  old 
woman  had  not  come  up,  I  would  have  whipped  that  boy 
soundly  and  sent  him  to  Rome."  ^' - 

He  was  much  concerned  that  his  white  hind  could  no- 
where be  found ;  as  he  was  thus  destitute  of  an  admirable 
contrivance  to  encourage  the  barbarous  people,  at  a  time 
when  he  most  stood  in  need  of  it.  Some  men,  however, 
wandering  in  the  night,  chanced  to  meet  her,  and  knowing 
her  by  her  color,  took  her ;  to  whom  Sertorius  promised  a 
good  reward,  if  they  would  tell  no  one  of  it;  and  imme- 
diately shut  her  up.  A  few  days  after,  he  appeared  in 
public  with  a  very  cheerful  look,  and  declared  to  the  chief 
meii  of  the  country,  that  the  gods  had  foretold  him  in  a 
dream  that  some  great  good  fortune  should  shortly  attend 
him ;  and,  taking  his  seat,  proceeded  to  answer  the  peti- 
tions of  those  who  applied  themselves  to  him.  The  keep- 
ers of  the  hind,  who  were  not  far  off,  now  let  her  loose, 
and  she  no  sooner  espied  Sertorius,  but  she  came  leaping 


240  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

with  great  joy  to  his  feet,  laid  her  head  upon  his  knees, 
and  licked  his  hands,  as  she  formerly  used  to  do.  And 
Sertorius  stroking  her,  and  making  much  of  her  again, 
with  that  tenderness  that  the  tears  stood  in  his  eyes,  all 
that  were  present  were  immediately  filled  with  wonder 
and  astonishment,  and  accompanying  him  to  his  house 
with  loud  shouts  for  joy,  looked  upon  him  as  a  person 
above  the  rank  of  mortal  men,  and  highly  beloved  by  the 
gods;  and  were  in  great  courage  and  hope  for  the  future. 
When  he  had  reduced  his  enemies  to  the  last  extremity 
for  want  of  provision,  he  was  forced  to  give  them  battle, 
in  the  plains  near  Saguntum,  to  hinder  them  from  foraging, 
and  plundering  the  country.  Both  parties  fought  glo- 
riously. Memmius,  the  best  commander  in  Pompey's  army, 
was  slain  in  the  heat  of  the  battle.  Sertorius  overthrew 
all  before  him,  and  with  great  slaughter  of  his  enemies 
pressed  forward  towards  Metellus.  This  old  commander, 
making  a  resistance  beyond  what  could  be  expected  from 
one  of  his  years,  was  wounded  with  a  lance  ;  an  occurrence 
which  filled  all  who  either  saw  it  or  heard  of  it,  with 
shame,  to  be  thought  to  have  left  their  general  in  distress, 
but  at  the  same  time  it  provoked  them  to  revenge  and  fury 
against  their  enemies:  they  covered  Metellus  with  their 
shields,  and  brought  him  off  in  safety,  and  then  valiantly 
repulsed  the  Spaniards ;  and  so  victory  changed  sides,  and 
Sertorius,  that  he  might  afford  a  more  secure  retreat  to  his 
army,  and  that  fresh  forces  might  more  easily  be  raised, 
retired  into  a  strong  city  in  the  mountains.  And  though 
it  was  the  least  of  his  intention  to  sustain  a  long  siege,  yet 
he  began  to  repair  the  walls,  and  to  fortify  the  gates,  thus 
deluding  his  enemies,  who  came  and  sat  down  before  the 
town,  hoping  to  take  it  without  much  resistance ;   and 


SERTORIUS.  241 

meantime  gave  over  the  pursuit  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
allowed  opportunity  for  raising  new  forces  for  Sertorius, 
to  which  purpose  he  had  sent  commanders  to  all  their 
cities,  with  orders,  when  they  had  sufficiently  increased 
their  numbers,  to  send  him  word  of  it.  This  news  he  no 
sooner  received,  but  he  sallied  out  and  forced  his  way 
through  his  enemies,  and  easily  joined  them  with  the  rest 
of  his  army.  And  having  received  this  considerable  rein- 
forcement, he  set  upon  the  Romans  again,  and  by  rapidly 
assaulting  them,  by  alarming  them  on  all  sides,  by  ensnar- 
ing, circumventing,  and  laying  ambushes,  for  them,  he  cut 
off  all  provisions  by  land,  while  with  his  piratical  vessels, 
he  kept  all  the  coast  in  awe,  and  hindered  their  supplies 
by  sea.  He  thus  forced  the  Roman  generals  to  dislodge, 
and  to  separate  from  one  another :  Metellus  departed  into 
Gaul,  and  Pompey  wintered  among  the  Vaccaeans,  in  a 
wretched  condition,  where,  being  in  extreme  want  of 
money,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  senate,  to  let  them  know 
that  if  they  did  not  speedily  supply  him,  he  must  draw  off 
his  army ;  for  he  had  already  spent  his  own  money  in  the 
defence  of  Italy.  To  these  extremities,  the  chiefest  and 
the  most  powerful  commanders  of  the  age  were  reduced  by 
the  skill  of  Sertorius ;  and  it  was  the  common  opinion  in 
Rome,  that  he  would  be  in  Italy  before  Pompey. 

How  far  Metellus  was  terrified,  and  at  what  rate  he 
esteemed  him,  he  plainly  declared,  when  he  offered  by 
proclamation  an  hundred  talents,  and  twenty  thousand 
acres  of  land,  to  any  Roman  that  should  kill  him,  and 
leave,  if  he  were  banished,  to  return ;  attempting  villain- 
ously to  buy  his  life  by  treachery,  when  he  despaired  of 
ever  being  able  to  overcome  him  in  open  war.  And  when 
once  he  gained  the  advantage  in  a  battle  against  Serto- 


242  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

rius,  he  was  so  pleased  and  transported  with  his  good  for- 
tune, that  he  caused  himself  to  be  publicly  proclaimed 
imperator;  and  all  the  cities  which  he  visited  received 
him  with  altars  and  sacrifices;  he  allowed  himself,  it  is 
said,  to  have  garlands  placed  on  his  head,  and  accepted 
sumptuous  entertainments,  at  which  he  sat  drinking  in 
triumphal  robes,  while  images  and  figures  of  victory  were 
introduced  by  the  motion  of  machines,  bringing  in  with 
them  crowns  and  trophies  of  gold  to  present  to  him,  and 
companies  of  young  men  and  women  danced  before  him, 
and  sang  to  him  songs  of  joy  and  triumph.  By  all  which 
he  rendered  himself  deservedly  ridiculous,  for  being  so 
excessively  delighted  and  puffed  up  with  the  thoughts  of 
having  followed  one  who  was  retiring  of  his  own  accord, 
and  for  having  once  had  the  better  of  him  whom  he  used 
to  call  Sylla's  runaway  slave,  and  his  forces,  the  remnant 
of  the  defeated  troops  of  Carbo. 

Sertorius,  meantime,  showed  the  loftiness  of  his  temper 
in  calling  together  all  the  Roman  senators  who  had  fled 
from  Rome,  and  had  come  and  resided  with  him,  and  giv- 
ing them  the  name  of  a  senate ;  and  out  of  these  he  chose 
praetors  and  quaestors,  and  adorned  his  government  with 
all  the  Roman  laws  and  institutions.  And  though  he 
made  use  of  the  arms,  riches,  and  cities  of  the  Spaniards, 
yet  he  would  never,  even  in  word,  remit  to  them  the  impe- 
rial authority,  but  set  Roman  officers  and  commanders 
over  them,  intimating  his  purpose  to  restore  liberty  to  the 
Romans,  not  to  raise  up  the  Spaniard's  power  against 
them.  For  he  was  a  sincere  lover  of  his  country,  and  had 
a  great  desire  to  return  home;    but  in  his  adverse  for- 

Imperator  :  a  title  of  honor  given  to  a  victorious  commander. 
Quaestors  :  magistrates  who  collected  the  public  revenue. 


SERTORIUS.  243 

tune  he  showed  undaunted  courage,  and  behaved  himself 
towards  his  enemies  in  a  manner  free  from  all  dejection 
and  mean-spiritedness ;  and  when  he  was  in  his  prosperity, 
and  in  the  height  of  his  victories,  he  sent  word  to  Metel- 
lus  and  Pompey,  that  he  was  ready  to  lay  down  his  arms, 
and  live  a  private  life,  if  he  were  allowed  to  return  home, 
declaring  that  he  had  rather  live  as  the  meanest  citizen  in 
Rome,  than,  exiled  from  it,  be  supreme  commander  of  all 
other  cities  together.  And  it  is  thought  that  his  great 
desire  for  his  country  was  in  no  small  measure  promoted 
by  the  tenderness  he  had  for  his  mother,  under  whom  he 
was  brought  up  after  the  death  of  his  father,  and  upon 
whom  he  had  placed  his  entire  affection.  And  after  that 
his  friends  had  sent  for  him  into  Spain  to  be  their  general, 
as  soon  as  he  heard  of  his  mother's  death,  he  had  almost 
cast  away  himself  and  died  for  grief;  for  he  lay  seven 
days  together  continually  in  his  tent,  without  giving  the 
word,  or  being  seen  by  the  nearest  of  his  friends ;  and 
when  the  chief  commanders  of  the  army,  and  persons  of 
the  greatest  note  came  about  his  tent,  with  great  difficulty 
they  prevailed  with  him  at  last  to  come  abroad,  and  speak 
to  his  soldiers,  and  to  take  upon  him  the  management  of 
affairs,  which  were  in  a  prosperous  condition.  And  thus, 
to  many  men's  judgment,  he  seemed  to  have  been  in  him- 
self of  a  mild  and  compassionate  temper,  and  naturally 
given  to  ease  and  quietness,  and  to  have  accepted  of  the 
command  of  military  forces  contrary  to  his  own  inclina- 
tion, and  not  being  able  to  live  in  safety  otherwise,  to 
have  been  driven  by  his  enemies  to  have  recourse  to  arms, 
and  to  espouse  the  wars  as  a  necessary  guard  for  the 
defence  of  his  person. 

His  negotiations  with  king  Mithridates  further  argue 


244  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

the  greatness  of  his  mind.  For  when  Mithridates,  recov- 
ering himself  from  his  overthrow  by  Sylla,  like  a  strong 
wrestler  that  gets  up  to  try  another  fall,  was  again  endeav- 
oring to  reestablish  his  power  in  Asia,  at  this  time  the 
great  fame  of  Sertorius  was  celebrated  in  all  places ;  and 
when  the  merchants  who  came  out  of  the  western  parts  of 
Europe,  bringing  these,  as  it  were,  among  their  other  foreign 
wares,  had  filled  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  with  their  stories 
of  his  exploits  in  war,  Mithridates  was  extremely  desirous 
to  send  an  embassy  to  him,  being  also  highly  encouraged 
to  it  by  the  boastings  of  his  flattering  courtiers,  who,  com- 
paring Mithridates  to  Pyrrhus,  and  Sertorius  to  Hannibal, 
professed  that  the  Romans  would  never  be  able  to  make 
any  considerable  resistance  against  such  great  forces,  and 
such  admirable  commanders,  when  they  should  be  set  upon 
on  both  sides  at  once,  on  one  by  the  most  warlike  general, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  most  powerful  prince  in  existence. 
Accordingly,  Mithridates  sends  ambassadors  into  Spain 
to  Sertorius  with  letters  and  instructions,  and  commission 
to  promise  ships  and  money  towards  the  charge  of  the 
war,  if  Sertorius  would  confirm  his  pretensions  upon  Asia, 
and  authorize  him  to  possess  all  that  he  had  surrendered 
to  the  Romans  in  his  treaty  with  Sylla.  Sertorius  sum- 
moned a  full  council  which  he  called  a  senate,  where, 
when  others  joyfully  approved  of  the  conditions,  and  were 
desirous  immediately  to  accept  of  his  offer,  seeing  that  he 
desired  nothing  of  them  but  a  name,  and  an  empty  title 
to  places  not  in  their  power  to  dispose  of,  in  recompense- 
of  which  they  should  be  supplied  with  what  they  then 
stood  most  in  need  of,  Sertorius  would  by  no  means  agree 
to  it ;  declaring  that  he  was  willing  that  king  Mithridates 
should  exercise  all  royal  power  and  authority  over  Bithy- 


SERTORIUS.  245 

nia  and  Cappadocia,  countries  accustomed  to  a  monarchi- 
cal government,  and  not  belonging  to  Rome,  but  he  could 
never  consent  that  he  should  seize  or  detain  a  province, 
which,  by  the  justest  right  and  title,  was  possessed  by  the 
Romans,  which  Mithridates  had  formerly  taken  away  from 
them,  and  had  afterwards  lost  in  open  war  to  Fimbria,  and. 
quitted  upon  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Sylla.  For  he  looked 
upon  it  as  his  duty  to  enlarge  the  Roman  possessions  by . 
his  conquering  arms,  and  not  to  increase  his  own  power  by 
the  diminution  of  the  Roman  territories.  Since  a  noble- 
minded  man,  though  he  willingly  accepts  of  victory  when 
it  comes  with  honor,  will  never  so  much  as  endeavor  to 
save  his  own  life  upon  any  dishonorable  terms. 

When  this  was  related  to  Mithridates,  he  was  struck 
with  amazement,  and  said  to  his  intimate  friends,  "  What 
will  Sertorius  enjoin  us  to  do  when  he  comes  to  be  seated 
in  the  Palatium  in  Rome,  who  at  present,  when  he  is 
driven  out  to  the  borders  of  the  Atlantic  sea,  sets  bounds 
to  our  kingdoms  in  the  east,  and  threatens  us  with  war, 
if  we  attempt  the  recovery  of  Asia  ?  "  However,  they 
solemnly,  upon  oath,  concluded  a  league  between  them, 
upon  these  terms :  that  Mithridates  should  enjoy  the  free 
possession  of  Cappadocia  and  Bithynia,  and  that  Sertorius 
should  send  him  soldiers,  and  a  general  for  his  army,  in 
recompense  of  which  the  king  was  to  supply  him  with 
three  thousand  talents  and  forty  ships.  Marcus  Marius, 
a  Roman  senator  who  had  quitted  Rome  to  follow  Serto- 
rius, was  sent  general  into  Asia,  in  company  with  whom, 
when  Mithridates  had  reduced  divers  of  the  Asian  cities, 
Marius  made  his  entrance  with  rods  and  axes  carried 
before  him,  and  Mithridates  followed  in  the  second  place, 
voluntarily  waiting  upon  him.  Some  of  these  cities  he 
set  at  liberty,  and  others  he  freed  from  taxes,  signifying 


246  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

to  tliem  that  these  privileges  were  granted  to  them  by  the 
favor  of  Sertorius,  and  hereby  Asia,  which  had  been  miser- 
ably tormented  by  the  revenue  farmers,  and  oppressed  by 
the  insolent  pride  and  covetousness  of  the  soldiers,  began 
to  rise  again  to  new  hopes,  and  to  look  forward  with  joy 
to  the  expected  change  of  government. 

But  in  Spain,  the  senators  about  Sertorius,  and  others 
of  the  nobility,  finding  themselves  strong  enough  for  their 
enemies,  no  sooner  laid  aside  fear,  but  their  minds  were 
possessed  by  envy  and  irrational  jealousies  of  Sertorius' 
power.  And  chiefly  Perpenna,  elevated  by  the  thoughts 
of  his  noble  birth,  and  carried  away  with  a  fond  ambi- 
tion of  commanding  the  army,  threw  out  villainous  dis- 
courses in  private  amongst  his  acquaintance.  "  What 
evil  genius,"  he  would  say,  "  hurries  us  perpetually  from 
worse  to  worse  ?  We  who  disdained  to  obey  the  dictates 
of  Sylla,  the  ruler  of  sea  and  land,  and  thus  to  live  at 
home  in  peace  and  quiet,  are  come  hither  to  our  destruc- 
tion, hoping  to  enjoy  our  liberty,  and  have  made  ourselves 
slaves  of  our  own  accord,  and  are  become  the  contemptible 
guards  and  attendants  of  the  banished  Sertorius,  who, 
that  he  may  expose  us  the  further,  gives  us  a  name  that 
renders  us  ridiculous  to  all  that  hear  it,  and  calls  us  the 
Senate,  when  at  the  same  time  he  makes  us  undergo  as 
much  hard  labor,  and  forces  us  to  be  as  subject  to  his 
haughty  commands  and  insolences  as  any  Spaniards  and 
Lusitanians."  With  these  mutinous  discourses  he  seduced 
them ;  and  though  the  greater  number  could  not  be  led 
into  open  rebellion  against  Sertorius,  fearing  his  power, 
they  were  prevailed  with  to  endeavor  to  destroy  his  inter- 
Revenue  farmers:  persons  who  purchased  the  right  of  collecting  taxes 
for  certain  districts,  and  then  made  as  much  profit  as  possible  by  extortion 
and  cruelty. 


SERTORIUS.  247 

est  secretly.  For  by  abusing  the  Lusitauians  and  Span- 
iards, by  inflicting  severe  punishments  upon  them,  by 
raising  exorbitant  taxes,  and  by  pretending  that  all  this 
was  done  by  the  strict  command  of  Sertorius,  they  caused 
great  troubles,  and  made  many  cities  to  revolt ;  and  those 
who  were  sent  to  mitigate  and  heal  these  differences,  did 
rather  exasperate  them  and  increase  the  number  of  his 
enemies,  and  left  them  at  their  return  more  obstinate  and 
rebellious  than  they  found  them.  And  Sertorius,  incensed 
with  all  this,  now  so  far  forgot  his  former  clemency  and 
goodness  as  to  lay  hands  on  the  sons  of  the  Spaniards, 
educated  in  the  city  of  Osca;  and,  contrary  to  all  justice, 
he  cruelly  put  some  of  them  to  death,  and  sold  others. 

In  the  mean  time,  Perpenna,  having  increased  the 
number  of  his  conspirators,  drew  in  Manlius,  a  commander 
in  the  army,  who,  at  that  time  being  attached  to  a  youth, 
to  gain  his  affections  the  more,  discovered  the  confederacy 
to  him,  bidding  him  neglect  others,  and  be  constant  to  him 
alone ;  who,  in  a  few  days,  was  to  be  a  person  of  great 
power  and  authority.  But  the  youth  having  a  greater 
inclination  for  Aufidius,  disclosed  all  to  him,  which  much 
surprised  and  amazed  him.  For  he  was  also  one .  of  the 
confederacy,  but  knew  not  that  Manlius  was  anyways 
engaged  in  it ;  but  when  the  youth  began  to  name  Per- 
penna, Gracinus,  and  others,  whom  he  knew  very  well  to 
be  sworn  conspirators,  he  was  very  much  terrified  and 
astonished ;  but  made  light  of  it  to  the  youth,  and  bade 
him  not  regard  what  Manlius  said,  a  vain,  boasting  fellow. 
However,  he  went  presently  to  Perpenna,  and  giving  him 
notice  of  the  danger  they  were  in,  and  of  the  shortness  of 
their  time,  desired  him  immediately  to  put  their  designs 
in  execution.  And  when  all  the  confederates  had  con- 
sented  to   it,  they  provided    a   messenger    who  brought 


248  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES, 

feigned  letters  to  Sertorius,  in  which  he  had  notice  of  a 
victory  obtained,  they  said,  by  one  of  his  lieutenants,  and  of 
the  great  slaughter  of  his  enemies ;  and  as  Sertorius,  being 
extremely  well  pleased,  was  sacrificing  and  giving  thanks 
to  the  gods  for  his  prosperous  success,  Perpenna  invited 
him,  and  those  with  him,  who  were  also  of  the  conspiracy, 
to  an  entertainment,  and  being  very  importunate,  pre- 
vailed with  him  to  come.  At  all  suppers  and  entertain- 
ments where  Sertorius  was  present,  great  order  and 
decency  was  wont  to  be  observed,  for  he  would  not 
endure  to  hear  or  see  anything  that  was  rude  or  unhand- 
some, but  made  it  the  habit  of  all  who  kept  his  company, 
to  entertain  themselves  with  quiet  and  inoffensive  amuse- 
ments. But  in  the  middle  of  this  entertainment,  those 
who  sought  occasion  to  quarrel,  fell  into  dissolute  dis- 
course openly,  and  making  as  if  they  were  very  drunk, 
committed  many  insolences  on  purpose  to  provoke  him. 
Sertorius,  being  offended  with  their  ill  behavior,  or  per- 
ceiving the  state  of  their  minds  by  their  way  of  speaking 
and  their  unusually  disrespectful  manner,  changed  the 
posture  of  his  lying,i  and  leaned  backward,  as  one  that 
neither  heard  nor  regarded  them.  Perpenna  now  took  a 
cup  full  of  wine,  and,  as  he  was  drinking,  let  it  fall  out  of 
his  hand  and  make  a  noise,  which  was  the  sign  agreed 
upon  amongst  them ;  and  Antonius,  who  was  next  to  Ser- 
torius, immediately  wounded  him  with  his  sword.  And 
whilst  Sertorius,  upon  receiving  the  wound,  turned  him- 
self and  strove  to  get  up,  Antonius  threw  himself  upon 
his  breast,  and  held  both  his  hands,  so  that  he  died  by 
a  number  of  blows,  without  being  able  even  to  defend 
himself. 

Upon  the  first  news  of  his  death,  most  of  the  Spaniards 

1  The  Romans  took  their  meals  reclining  on  couches  around  the  table. 


SERTORIUS.  249 

left  the  conspirators  and  sent  embassadors  to  Pompey  and 
Metellus,  and  yielded  themselves  up  to  them.  Perpenna 
attempted  to  do  something  with  those  that  remained,  but 
he  made  only  so  much  use  of  Sertorius'  arms  and  prepara- 
tions for  war  as  to  disgrace  himself  in  them,  and  to  let 
it  be  evident  to  all  that  he  understood  no  more  how  to 
command  than  he  knew  how  to  obey ;  and  when  he  came 
against  Pompey,  he  was  soon  overthrown  and  taken  pris- 
oner. Neither  did  he  bear  this  last  affliction  with  any 
bravery,  but  having  Sertorius'  papers  and  writings  in 
his  hands,  he  offered  to  show  Pompey  letters  from  persons 
of  consular  dignity,  and  of  the  highest  quality  in  Rome, 
written  with  their  own  hands,  expressly  to  call  Sertorius 
into  Italy,  and  to  let  him  know  what  great  numbers  there 
were  that  earnestly  desired  to  alter  the  present  state  of 
affairs,  and  to  introduce  another  manner  of  government. 
Upon  this  occasion,  Pompey  behaved  not  like  a  youth,  or 
one  of  a  light,  inconsiderate  mind,  but  as  a  man  of  a  con- 
firmed, mature,  and  solid  judgment ;  and  so  freed  Rome 
from  great  fears  and  dangers  of  change.  For  he  put  all 
Sertorius'  writings  and  letters  together  and  read  not  one 
of  them,  nor  suffered  any  one  else  to  read  them,  but  burnt 
them  all,  and  caused  Perpenna  immediately  to  be  put  to 
death,  lest  by  discovering  their  names,  further  troubles 
and  revolutions  might  ensue. 

Of  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  with  Perpenna,  some 
were  taken  and  slain  by  the  command  of  Pompey,  others 
fled  into  Africa  and  were  set  upon  by  the  Moors,  and  run 
through  with  their  darts;  and  in  a  short  time  not  one  of 
them  was  left  alive,  except  only  Aufidius,  the  rival  of 
Manlius,  who,  hiding  himself,  or  not  being  much  inquired 
after,  died  an  old  man  in  an  obscure  village  in  Spain,  in 
extreme  poverty,  and  hated  by  all. 


INTRODUCTION   TO   C^SAR. 

PoMPEY  was  now  the  great  man  in  Rome ;  for  although 
he  did  not  deserve  much  credit  for  defeating  Sertorius, 
yet  he  had  succeeded  where  all  others  had  failed.  On  his 
way  home  too  he  had  the  luck  to  fall  in  with  the  remains 
of  a  band  of  revolted  slaves  which  Crassus  had  just  de- 
feated. So  he  had  the  reputation  of  bringing  both  wars  to 
an  end.  He  was  made  consul  along  with  Crassus  (b.c.  70), 
and  not  long  after  was  sent  to  Asia  against  Mithridates ; 
for  the  Third  Mithridatic  War  was  now  being  fought. 
Pompey  was  really  a  great  general,  and  in  the  East  he 
managed  matters  very  skilfully,  and  put  everything  in 
good  order.  While  he  was  absent,  things  went  very  badly 
in  Rome ;  this  was  the  time  of  the  famous  conspiracy  of 
Catiline,  which  came  very  near  overthrowing  the  republic. 
Pompey  returned,  after  all  these  successes,  a  greater  man 
than  ever ;  and  in  the  year  60  he  formed  a  coalition  with 
Crassus,  the  richest  man  in  Rome,  and  Caesar,  the  most 
popular,  by  which  these  three  agreed  to  help  each  other, 
and  get  into  their  hands  the  whole  management  of  affairs 
in  Rome.  The  combination  between  Pompey,  Caesar,  and 
Crassus,  to  control  the  politics  of  the  city,  is  what  we 
should  call  a  Ring  ;  but  the  Romans  called  it  a  Triumvirate^ 
that  is,  a  committee  of  three  men.  But  all  these  things, 
as  well  as  the  wars  which  Csesar  carried  on  in  Gaul,  and 
the  Civil  War  afterwards  between  him  and  Pompey,  are 
related  in  the  Life  of  Caesar  which  follows. 


C^SAR.  251 


C^SAR. 


A  FTER  Sylla  became  master  of  Rome,  he  wished  to 
-^--^  make  Caesar  put  away  his  wife  Cornelia,  daughter  of 
Cinna,  the  late  sole  ruler  of  the  commonwealth,  but  was 
unable  to  effect  it  either  by  promises  or  intimidation,  and 
so  contented  himself  with  confiscating  her  dowry.  The 
ground  of  Sylla's  hostility  to  Caesar  was  the  relationship 
between  him  and  Marius ;  for  Marius,  the  elder,  married 
Julia,  the  sister  of  Caesar's  father,  and  had  by  her  the 
younger  Marius,  who  consequently  was  Caesar's  first  cousin. 
And  though  at  the  beginning,  while  so  many  were  to  be 
put  to  death  and  there  was  so  much  to  do,  Caesar  was 
overlooked  by  Sylla,  yet  he  would  not  keep  quiet,  but 
presented  himself  to  the  people  as  a  candidate  for  the 
priesthood,  though  he  was  yet  a  mere  boy.  Sylla,  with- 
out any  open  opposition,  took  measures  to  have  him  re- 
jected, and  in  consultation  w^hether  he  should  be  put  to 
death,  when  it  was  urged  by  some  that  it  was  not  worth 
his  while  to  contrive  the  death  of  a  boy,  he  answered, 
that  they  knew  little  who  did  not  see  more  than  one 
Marius  in  that  boy.  Caesar,  on  being  informed  of  this 
saying,  concealed  himself,  and  for  a  considerable  time 
kept  out  of  the  way  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  often 
changing  his  quarters,  till  one  night,  as  he  was  removing 
from  one  house  to  another  on  account  of  his  health,  he 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Sylla's  soldiers  who  were  searching 


252  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

those  parts  in  order  to  apprehend  any  who  had  absconded. 
Caesar,  by  a  bribe  of  two  talents,  prevailed  with  Corne- 
lius, their  captain,  to  let  him  go,  and  was  no  sooner  dis- 
missed but  he  put  to  sea,  and  made  for  Bithynia.  After 
a  short  stay  there  with  Nicomedes,  the  king,  in  his  pas- 
sage back  he  was  taken  near  the  island  Pharmacusa  by 
some  of  the  pirates,  who,  at  that  time,  with  large  fleets  of 
ships  and  innumerable  smaller  vessels  infested  the  seas 
everywhere. 

When  these  men  at  first  demanded  of  him  twenty  tal- 
ents for  his  ransom,  he  laughed  at  them  for  not  under- 
standing the  value  of  their  prisoner,  and  voluntarily 
engaged  to  give  them  fifty.  He  presently  despatched 
those  about  him  to  several  places  to  raise  the  money,  till 
at  last  he  was  left  among  a  set  of  the  most  bloodthirsty 
people  in  the  world,  the  Cilicians,  with  only  one  friend 
and  two  attendants.  Yet  he  made  so  little  of  them,  that 
when  he  had  a  mind  to  sleep,  he  would  send  to  them,  and 
order  them  to  make  no  noise.  For  thirty-eight  days, 
with  all  the  freedom  in  the  world,  he  amused  .himself 
with  joining  in  their  exercises  and  games,  as  if  they  had 
not  been  his  keepers,  but  his  guards.  He  wrote  verses 
and  speeches,  and  made  them  his  auditors,  and  those  who 
did  not  admire  them,  he  called  to  their  faces  illiterate  and 
barbarous,  and  would  often,  in  raillery,  threaten  to  hang 
them.  They  were  greatly  taken  with  this,  and  attributed 
his  free  talking  to  a  kind  of  simplicity  and  boyish  play- 
fulness. As  soon  as  his  ransom  was  come  from  Miletus, 
he  paid  it,  and  was  discharged,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
man  some  ships  at  the  port  of  Miletus,  and  went  in  pur- 
suit of  the  pirates,  whom  he  surprised  with  their  ships 
still   stationed   at   the   island,   and   took   most   of   them. 


C^SAR.  253 

Their  money  he  made  his  prize,  and  the  men  he  secured  ■ 
in  prison  at  Pergamus,  and  made  application  to  Junius, 
who  was  then  governor  of  Asia,  to  whose  office  it  be- 
longed, as  praetor,  to  determine  their  punishment.  Junius, 
having  his  eye  upon  the  money,  for  the  sum  was  consid- 
erable, said  he  would  think  at  his  leisure  what  to  do  with 
the  prisoners,  upon  which  Caesar  took  his  leave  of  him, 
and  went  off  to  Pergamus,  where  he  ordered  the  pirates 
to  be  brought  forth  and  crucified ;  the  punishment  he 
had  often  threatened  them  with  whilst  he  was  in  their 
hands,  and  they  little  dreamed  he  was  in  earnest. 

In  the  mean  time  Sylla's  power  being  now  on  the  de- 
cline, Caesar's  friends  advised  him  to  return  to  Rome ;  but 
he  went  to  Rhodes,  and  entered  himself  in  the  school  of 
Apollonius,  Molon's  son,  a  famous  rhetorician,  one  who 
had  the  reputation  of  a  worthy  man,  and  had  Cicero  for 
one  of  his  scholars.  Caesar  is  said  to  have  been  admira- 
bly fitted  by  nature  to  make  a  great  statesman  and 
orator,  and  to  have  taken  such  pains  to  improve  his 
genius  this  way,  that  without  dispute  he  might  challenge 
the  second  place.  More  he  did  not  aim  at,  as  choosing  to 
be  first  rather  amongst  men  of  arms  and  power,  and, 
therefore,  never  rose  to  that  height  of  eloquence  to 
which  nature  would  have  carried  him,  his  attention  being 
diverted  to  those  expeditions  and  designs,  which  at  length 
gained  him  the  empire.  And  he  himself,  in  his  answer 
to  Cicero's  panegyric  on  Cato,  desires  his  reader  not  to 
compare  the  plain  discourse  of  a  soldier  with  the  ha- 
rangues of  an  orator  who  had  not  only  fine  parts,  but 
had  employed  his  life  in  this  study. 

When  he  was  returned  to  Rome,  he  accused  Dolabella 
Panegyric:  eulogy. 


254  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

of  maladministration,  and  many  cities  of  Greece  came  in 
to  attest  it.  Dolabella  was  acquitted,  and  Caesar,  in  re- 
turn for  the  support  he  had  received  from  the  Greeks, 
assisted  them  in  their  prosecution  of  Publius  Antonius  for 
corrupt  practices,  before  Marcus  Lucullus,  praetor  of  Mace- 
donia. In  this  cause  he  so  far  succeeded,  that  Antonius 
was  forced  to  appeal  to  the  tribunes  of  Rome,  alleging 
that  in  Greece  he  could  not  have  fair  play  against  Gre- 
cians. In  his  pleadings  at  Rome,  his  eloquence  soon  ob- 
tained him  great  credit  and  favor,  and  he  won  no  less 
upon  the  affections  of  the  people  by  the  affability  of  his 
manners  and  address,  in  which  he  showed  a  tact  and  con- 
sideration beyond  what  could  have  been  expected  at  his 
age ;  and  the  open  house  he  kept,  the  entertainments  he 
gave,  and  the  general  splendor  of  his  manner  of  life  con- 
tributed little  by  little  to  create  and  increase  his  political 
influence.  His  enemies  slighted  the  growth  of  it  at  first, 
presuming  it  would  soon  fail  when  his  money  was  gone ; 
whilst  in  the  mean  time  it  was  growing  up  and  flourish- 
ing among  the  common  people.  When  his  power  at  last 
was  established  and  not  to  be  overthrown,  and  now 
openly  tended  to  the  altering  of  the  whole  constitution, 
they  were  aware  too  late,  that  there  is  no  beginning  so 
mean,  which  continued  application  will  not  make  consid- 
erable, and  that  despising  a  danger  at  first,  will  make  it 
at  last  irresistible.  Cicero  was  the  first  who  had  any  sus- 
picions of  his  designs  upon  the  government,  and,  as  a 
good  pilot  is  apprehensive  of  a  storm  when  the  sea  is 
most  smiling,  saw  the  designing  temper  of  the  man 
through  this  disguise  of  good-humor  and  affability,  and 
said,  that  in  general,  in  all  he  did  and  undertook,  he  de- 
tected the  ambition  for  absolute  power ;  "  but  when  I  see 


CiESAR.  255 

his  hair  so  carefully  arranged,  and  observe  him  adjusting 
it  with  one  finger,  I  cannot  imagine  it  should  enter  into 
such  a  man's  thoughts  to  subvert  the  Romap  state."  But 
of  this  more  hereafter. 

The  first  proof  he  had  of  the  people's  good-will  to  him, 
was  when  he  received  by  their  suffrages  a  tribuneship  in 
the  army,  and  came  out  on  the  list  with  a  higher  place 
than  Caius  Popilius.  A  second  and  clearer  instance  of 
their  favor  appeared  upon  his  making  a  magnificent  ora- 
tion in  praise  of  his  aunt  Julia,  wife  to  Marius,  publicly 
in  the  forum,  at  whose  funeral  he  was  so  bold  as  to  bring 
forth  the  images  of  Marius,  which  nobody  had  dared  to 
produce  since  the  government  came  into  Sylla's  hands, 
Marius'  party  having  from  that  time  been  declared  ene- 
mies of  the  state.  When  some  who  were  present  had 
begun  to  raise  a  cry  against  Csesar,  the  people  answered 
with  loud  shouts  and  clapping  in  his  favor,  expressing 
their  joyful  surprise  and  satisfaction  at  his  having,  as  it 
were,  brought  up  again  from  the  grave  those  honors  of 
Marius,  which  for  so  long  a  time  had  been  lost  to  the 
city.  It  had  always  been  the  custom  at  Rome  to  make 
funeral  orations  in  praise  of  elderly  matrons,  but  there  was 
no  precedent  of  any  upon  young  women  till  Caesar  first 
made  one  upon  the  death  of  his  own  wife.  This  also  pro- 
cured him  favor,  and  by  this  show  of  affection  he  won 
upon  the  feelings  of  the  people,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a 
man  of  great  tenderness  and  kindness  of  heart.  After 
he  had  buried  his  wife,  he  went  as  quaestor  into  Spain 
under  one  of  the  praetors,  named  Vetus,  whom  he  hon- 
ored ever  after,  and  made  his  son  his  own  quaestor, 
when  he  himself  came  to  be  praetor.  After  this  employ- 
ment was  ended,  he  married  Pompeia,  his  third  wife,  hav- 


256  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

ing  then  a  daughter  by  Cornelia,  his  first  wife,  whom  he 
afterwards  married  to  Pompey  the  Great.  He  was  so  pro- 
fuse in  his  expenses,  that  before  he  had  any  public  employ- 
ment, he  was  in  debt  thirteen  hundred  talents,  and  many 
thought  that  by  incurring  such  expense  to  be  popular,  he 
changed  a  soHd  good  for  what  would  prove  but  a  short  and 
uncertain  return;  but  in  truth  he  was  purchasing  what 
was  of  the  greatest  value  at  an  inconsiderable  rate.  When 
he  was  made  surveyor  of  the  Appian  Way,  he  disbursed, 
besides  the  public  money,  a  great  sum  out  of  his  private 
purse ;  and  when  he  was  sedile,  he  provided  such  a  num- 
ber of  gladiators,  that  he  entertained  the  people  with  three 
hundred  and  twenty  single  combats,  and  by  his  great  lib- 
erality and  magnificence  in  theatrical  shows,  in  processions, 
and  public  feastings,  he  threw  into  the  shade  all  the  at- 
tempts that  had  been  made  before  him,  and  gained  so 
much  upon  the  people,  that  every  one  was  eager  to  find 
out  new  offices  and  new  honors  for  him  in  return  for  his 
munificence. 

There  being  two  factions  in  the  city,  one  that  of  Sylla, 
which  was  very  powerful,  the  other  that  of  Marius,  which 
was  then  broken  and  in  a  very  low  condition,  he  under- 
took to  revive  this  and  to  make  it  his  own.  And  to  this 
end,  whilst  he  was  in  the  height  of  his  repute  with  the 
people  for  the  magnificent  shows  he  gave  as  sedile,  he 
ordered  images  of  Marius,  and  figures  of  Victory,  with 
trophies  in  their  hands,  to  be  carried  privately  in  the  night 

Appian  Way :  the  most  famous  of  the  ancient  highways,  extending  from 
Rome  to  Southern  Italy. 

-ffidile :  the  superintendent  of  buildings,  highways,  public  places,  weights 
and  measures. 

Gladiator  :  a  swordsman  trained  to  fight  in  the  arena  for  the  amusement 
of  the  people. 


C^SAR.  257 

and  placed  in  the  capitol.  Next  morning,  when  some  saw 
them  bright  with  gold  and  beautifully  made,  with  inscrip- 
tions upon  them,  referring  them  to  Marius'  exploits  over 
the  Cimbrians,  they  were  surprised  at  the  boldness  of  him 
who  had  set  them  up,  nor  was  it  difficult  to  guess  who  it 
was.  The  fame  of  this  soon  spread  and  brought  together 
a  great  concourse  of  people.  Some  cried  out  that  it  was 
an  open  attempt  against  the  established  government  thus 
to  revive  those  honors  which  had  been  buried  by  the  laws 
and  decrees  of  the  senate;  that  Csesar  had  done  it  to 
sound  the  temper  of  the  people  whom  he  had  prepared 
before,  and  to  try  whether  they  were  tame  enough  to  bear 
his  humor,  and  would  quietly  give  way  to  his  innovations. 
On  the  other  hand,  Marius'  party  took  courage,  and  it  was 
incredible  how  numerous  they  were  suddenly  seen  to  be, 
and  what  a  multitude  of  them  appeared  and  came  shout- 
ing into  the  capitol.  Many,  when  they  saw  Marius'  like- 
ness, cried  for  joy,  and  Caesar  was  highly  extolled  as  the 
one  man,  in  the  place  of  all  others,  who  was  a  relation 
worthy  of  Marius.  Upon  this  the  senate  met,  and  Catu- 
lus  Lutatius,  one  of  the  most  eminent  Romans  of  that 
time,  stood  up  and  inveighed  against  Caesar,  closing  his 
speech  with  the  remarkable  saying,  that  Caesar  was  now 
not  working  mines,  but  planting  batteries  to  overthrow 
the  state.  But  when  Caesar  had  made  an  apology  for  him- 
self, and  satisfied  the  senate,  his  admirers  were  very  much 
animated,  and  advised  him  not  to  depart  from  his  own 
thoughts  for  any  one,  since  with  the  people's  good  favor 
he  would  erelong  get  the  better  of  them  all,  and  be  the 
first  man  in  the  commonwealth. 

At  this  time,  Metellus,  the  High-Priest,  died,  and  Catu- 
lus  and  Isauricus,  persons  of  the  highest  reputation,  and 

^- 


258  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

who  had  great  influence  in  the  senate,  were  competitors 
for  the  office ;  yet  Caesar  would  not  give  way  to  them,  but 
presented  himself  to  the  people  as  a  candidate  against 
them.  The  several  parties  seeming  very  equal,  Catulus, 
who,  because  he  had  the  most  honor  to  lose,  was  the  most 
apprehensive  of  the  event,  sent  to  Csesar  to  buy  him  off, 
with  offers  of  a  great  sum  of  money.  But  his  answer 
was,  that  he  was  ready  to  borrow  a  larger  sum  than  that, 
to  carry  on  the  contest.  Upon  the  day  of  election,  as  his 
mother  conducted  him  out  of  doors  with  tears,  after  em- 
bracing her,  "  My  mother,"  he  said,  "  to-day  you  will  see 
me  either  High-Priest,  or  an  exile."  When  the  votes  were 
taken,  after  a  great  struggle,  he  carried  it,  and  excited 
among  the  senate  and  nobility  great  alarm  lest  he  might 
now  urge  on  the  people  to  every  kind  of  insolence.  And 
Piso  and  Catulus  found  fault  with  Cicero  for  having  let 
Caesar  escape,  when  in  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline  he  had 
given  the  government  such  advantage  against  him.  For 
Catiline,  who  had  designed  not  only  to  change  the  present 
state  of  affairs,  but  to  subvert  the  whole  empire  and  con- 
found all,  had  himself  taken  to  flight,  while  the  evidence 
was  yet  incomplete  against  him,  before  his  ultimate  pur- 
poses had  been  properly  discovered.  But  he  had  left 
Lentulus  and  Cethegus  in  the  city  to  supply  his  place  in 
the  conspiracy,  and  whether  they  received  any  secret  en- 
couragement and  assistance  from  Caesar  is  uncertain;  all 
that  is  certain,  is,  that  they  were  fully  convicted  in  the 
senate,  and  when  Cicero,  the  consul,  asked  the  several 
opinions  of  the  senators,  how  they  would  have  them  pun- 
ished, all  who  spoke  before  Caesar  sentenced  them  to  death ; 
but  Caesar  stood  up  and  made  a  set  speech,  in  which  he 
told  them,  that  he  thought  it  without  precedent  and  not 


CiESAR.  259 

just  to  take  away  the  lives  of  persons  of  their  birth  and 
distinction  before  they  were  fairly  tried,  unless  there  was 
an  absolute  necessity  for  it ;  but  if  they  were  kept  con- 
fined in  any  towns  of  Italy  Cicero  himself  should  choose, 
till  Catiline  was  defeated,  then  the  senate  might  in  peace 
and  at  their  leisure  determine  what  was  best  to  be 
done. 

This  sentence  of  his  carried  so  much  appearance  of 
humanity,  and  he  gave  it  such  advantage  by  the  elo- 
quence with  which  he  urged  it,  that  not  only  those  who 
spoke  after  him  closed  with  it,  but  even  they  who  had 
before  given  a  contrary  opinion,  now  came  over  to  his,  till 
it  came  about  to  Catulus'  and  Cato's  turn  to  speak. 
They  warmly  opposed  it,  and  Cato  intimated  in  his  speech 
the  suspicion  of  Caesar  himself,  and  pressed  the  matter  so 
strongly,  that  the  criminals  were  given  up  to  suffer  execu- 
tion. As  Caesar  was  going  out  of  the  senate,  many  of  the 
young  men  who  at  that  time  acted  as  guards  to  Cicero 
ran  in  with  their  naked  swords  to  assault  him.  But 
Curio,  it  is  said,  threw  his  gown  over  him  and  conveyed 
him  away,  and  Cicero  himself,  when  the  young  men 
looked  up  to  see  his  wishes,  gave  a  sign  not  to  kill  him, 
either  for  fear  of  the  people,  or  because  he  thought  the 
murder  unjust  and  illegal.  If  this  be  true,  I  wonder  how 
Cicero  came  to  omit  all  mention  of  it  in  his  book  about 
his  consulship.  He  was  blamed,  however,  afterwards, 
for  not  having  made  use  of  so  fortunate  an  opportunity 
against  Caesar,  as  if  he  had  let  it  escape  him  out  of  fear 
of  the  populace,  who,  indeed,  showed  remarkable  solici- 
tude about  Caesar,  and  some  time  after,  when  he  went 
into  the  senate  to  clear  himself  of  the  suspicions  he  lay 
under,  and  found  great  clamors  raised  against  him,  upon 


260  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

the  senate,  in  consequence,  sitting  longer  than  ordinary, 
they  went  up  to  the  house  in  a  tumult,  and  beset  it, 
.  demanding  Caesar,  and  requiring  them  to  dismiss  him. 
Upon  this,  Cato,  much  fearing  some  movement  among  the 
poor  citizens,  who  were  always  the  first  to  kindle  the 
flame  among  the  people,  and  placed  all  their  hopes  in 
Caesar,  persuaded  the  senate  to  give  them  a  monthly 
allowance  of  corn,  an  expedient  which  put  the  com- 
monwealth to  an  extraordinary  charge,  but  quite  suc- 
ceeded in  removing  the  great  cause  of  terror  for  the 
present,  and  very  much  weakened  Caesar's  power,  who 
at  that  time  was  just  going  to  be  made  praetor,  and 
consequently  would  have  been  more  formidable  by  his 
office. 

Caesar,  being  out  of  his  praetorship,  had  got  the  prov- 
ince of  Spain,  but  was  in  great  embarrassment  with  his 
creditors,  who,  as  he  was  going  off,  came  upon  him,  and 
were  very  pressing  and  importunate.  This  led  him  to 
apply  himself  to  Crassus,  who  was  the  richest  man  in 
Rome,  but  wanted  Caesar's  youthful  vigor  and  heat  to 
sustain  the  opposition  against  Pompey.  Crassus  took 
upon  him  to  satisfy  those  creditors  who  were  most  uneasy 
to  him,  and  would  not  be  put  off  any  longer,  and  engaged 
himself  to  the  amount  of  eight  hundred  and  thirty  talents, 
upon  which  Caesar  was  now  at  liberty  to  go  to  his  prov- 
ince. In  his  journey,  as  he  was  crossing  the  Alps,  and 
passing  by  a  small  village  of  the  barbarians  with  but  few 
inhabitants,  and  those  wretchedly  poor,  his  companions 
asked  the  question  among  themselves,  by  way  of  mockery, 
if  there  were  any  canvassing  for  offices  there ;  any  conten- 
tion which  should  be  uppermost,  or  feuds  of  great  men 
one  against  another.     To  which  Caesar  made  answer,  seri- 


CiESAR.  261 

ously,  "  For  my  part,  I  had  rather  be  the  first  man  among 
these  fellows,  than  the  second  man  in  Rome."  It  is  said 
that  another  time,  when  free  from  business  in  Spain,  after 
reading  some  part  of  the  history  of  Alexander,  he  sat  a 
great  while  very  thoughtful,  and  at  last  burst  out  into 
tears.  His  friends  were  surprised,  and  asked  him  the 
reason  of  it.  "Do  you  think,"  said  he,  "I  have  not  just 
cause  to  weep  when  I  consider  that  Alexander  at  my  age 
had  conquered  so  many  nations,  and  I  have  all  this  time 
done  nothing  that  is  memorable  ?  "  As  soon  as  he  came 
into  Spain  he  was  very  active,  and  in  a  few  days  had  got 
together  ten  new  cohorts  of  foot,  in  addition  to  the  twenty 
which  were  there  before.  With  these  he  marched  against 
the  Calaici  and  Lusitani  and  conquered  them,  and  advanc- 
ing as  far  as  the  ocean,  subdued  the  tribes  which  never 
before  had  been  subject  to  the  Romans.  Having  managed 
his  military  affairs  with  good  success,  he  was  equally  happy 
in  the  course  of  his  civil  government.  He  took  pains  to 
establish  a  good  understanding  amongst  the  several  states, 
and  no  less  care  to  heal  the  differences  between  debtors 
and  creditors.  He  ordered  that  the  creditor  should  re- 
ceive two  parts  of  the  debtor's  yearly  income,  and  that 
the  other  part  should  be  managed  by  the  debtor  himself, 
till  by  this  method  the  whole  debt  was  at  last  discharged. 
This  conduct  made  him  leave  his  province  with  a  fair 
reputation ;  being  rich  himself,  and  having  enriched  his 
soldiers,  and  having  received  from  them  the  honorable 
name  of  Imperator. 

There  is  a  law  among  the  Romans,  that  whoever  desires 
the  honor  of  a  triumph  must  stay  without  the  city  and 

Cohort :    a  body  of  about  five  hundred  soldiers,  or  the  tenth  part  of  a 
legion. 


262  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

expect  his  answer.  And  another,  that  those  who  stand 
for  the  consulship  shall  appear  personally  upon  the  place. 
Csesar  was  come  home  at  the  very  time  of  choosing  con- 
suls, and  being  in  a  difficulty  between  these  two  opposite 
laws,  sent  to  the  senate  to  desire  that  since  he  was  obliged 
to  be  absent,  he  might  sue  for  the  consulship  by  his 
friends.  Cato,  being  backed  by  the  law,  at  first  opposed 
his  request;  afterwards  perceiving  that  Caesar  had  pre- 
vailed with  a  great  part  of  the  senate  to  comply  with  it, 
he  made  it  his  business  to  gain  time,  and  went  on  wasting 
the  whole  day  in  speaking.  Upon  which,  Caesar  thouglit 
fit  to  let  the  triumph  fall,  and  pursued  the  consulship. 
Entering  the  town  and  coming  forward  immediately,  he 
had  recourse  to  a  piece  of  state-policy  by  which  everybody 
was  deceived  but  Cato.  This  was  the  reconciling  of  Cras- 
sus  and  Pompey,  the  two  men  who  then  Avere  most  power- 
ful in  Rome.  There  had  been  a  quarrel  between  them, 
which  he  now  succeeded  in  making  up,  and  by  this  means 
strengthened  himself  by  the  united  power  of  both,  and  so 
under  the  cover  of  an  action  which  carried  all  the  appear- 
ance of  a  piece  of  kindness  and  good-nature,  caused  what 
was  in  effect  a  revolution  in  the  government.  For  it  was 
not  the  quarrel  between  Pompey  and  Csesar,  as  most 
men  imagine,  which  was  the  origin  of  the  civil  wars,  but 
their  union,  their  conspiring  together  at  first  to  subvert 
the  aristocracy,  and  so  quarrelling  afterwards  between 
themselves.  Cato,  who  often  foretold  what  the  conse- 
quence of  this  alliance  would  be,  had  then  the  character 
of  a  sullen,  interfering  man,  but  in  the  end  the  reputation 
of  a  wise  but  unsuccessful  counsellor.  '  Y  " 

Thus  Caesar  being  doubly  supported  by  the  interests  of 
Crassus   and   Pompey,  was  promoted  to  the  consulship. 


C^SAR.  263 

and  triumphantly  proclaimed  with  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 
When  he  entered  on  his  office,  he  brought  in  bills  which 
would  have  been  preferred  with  better  grace  by  the  most 
audacious  of  the  tribunes  than  by  a  consul,  in  which  he 
proposed  the  plantation  of  colonies  and  division  of  lands, 
simply  to  please  the  commonalty.  The  best  and  most 
honorable  of  the  senators  opposed  it,  upon  which,  as  he 
had  long  wished  for  nothing  more  than  for  such  a  color- 
able pretext,  he  loudly  protested  how  much  against  his 
will  it  was  to  be  driven  to  seek  support  from  the  people, 
and  how  the  senate's  insulting  and  harsh  conduct  left  no 
other  course  possible  for  him  than  to  devote  himself 
henceforth  to  the  popular  cause  and  interest.  And  so 
he  hurried  out  of  the  senate,  and  presenting  himself  to 
the  people,  and  there  placing  Crassus  and  Pompey  one 
on  each  side  of  him,  he  asked  them  whether  they  con- 
sented to  the  bills  he  had  proposed.  They  owned  their 
assent,  upon  which  he  desired  them  to  assist  him  against 
those  who  had  threatened  to  oppose  him  with  their 
swords.  They  engaged  they  would,  and  Pompey  added 
further,  that  he  would  meet  their  swords  with  a  sword 
and  buckler  too.  These  words  the  nobles  much  resented, 
as  neither  suitable  to  his  own  dignity,  nor  becoming  the 
reverence  due  to  the  senate,  but  resembling  rather  the 
vehemence  of  a  boy,  or  the  fury  of  a  madman.  But 
the  people  were  pleased  with  it.  In  order  to  get  a  yet 
firmer  hold  upon  Pompey,  Caesar,  having  a  daughter, 
Julia,  who  had  been  before  contracted  to  Servilius  Caepio, 
now  betrothed  her  to  Pompey,  and  told  Servilius  he 
should  have  Pompey's  daughter,  who  was  not  unengaged 
either,  but  promised  to  Sylla's  son,  Faustus.  A  little  time 
after,  Caesar  married  Calpurnia,  the  daughter  of  Piso,  and 


264  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

got  Piso  made  consul  for  the  year  following.  Cato 
exclaimed  loudly  against  this,  and  protested  with  a  great 
deal  of  warmth,  that  it  was  intolerable  the  government 
should  be  prostituted  by  marriages,  and  that  they  should 
advance  one  another  to  the  commands  of  armies,  prov- 
inces, and  other  great  posts,  by  means  of  women.  Bibu- 
lus,  Caesar's  colleague,  finding  it  was  to  no  purpose  to 
oppose  his  bills,  but  that  he  was  in  danger  of  being  mur- 
dered in  the  forum,  as  also  was  Cato,  confined  himself  to 
his  house,  and  there  let  the  remaining  part  of  his  consul- 
ship expire.  Pompey,  when  he  was  married,  at  once  filled 
the  forum  with  soldiers,  and  gave  the  people  his  help  in 
passing  the  new  laws,  and  secured  Csesar  the  government 
of  all  Gaul,  both  on  this  and  the  other  side  of  the  Alps, 
together  with  Illyricum,  and  the  command  of  four  legions 
for  five  years.  Cato  made  some  attempts  against  these 
proceedings,  but  was  seized  and  led  off  on  the  way  to 
prison  by  Caesar,  who  expected  he  would  appeal  to  the 
tribunes.  But  when  he  saw  that  Cato  went  along  with- 
out speaking  a  word,  and  not  only  the  nobility  were 
indignant,  but  that  the  people  also,  out  of  respect  for 
Cato's  virtue,  were  following  in  silence,  and  with  dejected 
looks,  he  himself  privately  desired  one  of  the  tribunes  to 
rescue  Cato.  As  for  the  other  senators,  some  few  of  them 
attended  the  house;  the  rest  being  disgusted,  absented 
themselves.  Hence  Considius,  a  very  old  man,  took  occa- 
sion one  day  to  tell  Csesar,  that  the  senators  did  not  meet 
because  they  were  afraid  of  his  soldiers.  Caesar  asked, 
"Why  don't  you  then,  out  of  the  same  fear,  keep  at 
home  ? "  To  which  Considius  replied,  that  age  was  his 
guard  against  fear,  and  that  the  small  remains  of  his  life 
were  not  worth  much  caution. 


CiESAR.  265 

Thus  far  have  we  followed  Caesar's  actions  before  tha 
wars  of  Gaul.  After  this,  he  seems  to  begin  his  course 
afresh,  and  to  enter  upon  a  new  life  and  scene  of  action.- 
And  the  period  of  those  wars  which  he  now  fought,  and 
those  many  expeditions  in  w^hich  he  subdued  Gaul,  showed 
him  to  be  a  soldier  and  a  general  not  in  the  least  inferior 
to  any  of  the  greatest  and  most  admired  commanders  who 
had  ever  appeared  at  the  head  of  armies.  For  if  we  com- 
pare him  with  the  Fabii,  the  Metelli,  the  Scipios,  and  with 
those  who  were  his  contemporaries,  or  not  long  before 
him,  Sylla,  Marius,  the  two  Luculli,  or  even  Pompey  him- 
self, whose  glory,  it  may  be  said,  went  up  at  that  time  to 
heaven  for  every  excellence  in  war,  we  shall  find  Caesar's 
actions  to  have  surpassed  them  all.  One  he  may  be  held 
to  have  outdone  in  consideration  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
country  in  which  he  fought,  another  in  the  extent  of 
territory  which  he  conquered;  some,  in  the  number  and 
strength  of  the  enemies  whom  he  defeated ;  one  man, 
because  of  the  wildness  and  perfidiousness  of  the  tribes 
whose  good-will  he  conciliated,  another  in  his  humanity 
and  clemency  to  those  he  overpowered ;  others,  again  in 
his  gifts  and  kindnesses  to  his  soldiers;  all  alike  in  the 
number  of  the  battles  which  he  fought  and  the  enemies 
whom  he  killed.  For  he  had  not  pursued  the  wars  in 
Gaul  full  ten  years  when  he  had  taken  by  storm  above 
eight  hundred  towns,  subdued  three  hundred  states,  and 
of  the  three  millions  of  men  who  made  up  the  gross  sum 
of  those  with  whom  at  several  times  he  engaged,  he  had 
killed  one  million,  and  taken  captive  a  second. 

He  was  so  much  master  of  the  good-will  and  hearty 
service  of  his  soldiers,  that  those  who  in  other  expeditions 
were  but  ordinary  men,  displayed  a  courage  past  defeating 


266  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

or  withstanding  when  they  went  upon  any  danger  where 
Caesar's  glory  was  concerned.  Such  a  one  was  Acilius, 
who,  in  the  sea-fight  before  Marseilles,  had  his  right  hand 
struck  off  with  a  sword,  yet  did  not  quit  his  buckler  out 
of  his  left,  but  struck  the  enemies  in  the  face  with  it  till 
he  drove  them  off,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  vessel. 
Again,  in  Britain,  when  some  of  the  foremost  officers  had 
accidentally  got  into  a  morass  full  of  water,  and  there 
were  assaulted  by  the  enemy,  a  common  soldier,  whilst 
Caesar  stood  and  looked  on,  threw  himself  into  the  midst 
of  them,  and  after  many  signal  demonstrations  of  his 
valor,  rescued  the  officers  and  beat  off  the  barbarians. 
He  himself,  in  the  end,  took  to  the  water,  and  with  much 
difficulty,  partly  by  swimming,  partly  by  wading,  passed 
it,  but  in  the  passage  lost  his  shield.  Caesar  and  his  offi- 
cers saw  it  and  admired,  and  went  to  meet  him  with  joy 
and  acclamation.  But  the  soldier,  much  dejected  and  in 
tears,  threw  himself  down  at  Caesar's  feet,  and  begged  his 
pardon  for  having  let  go  his  buckler.  Another  time,  in 
Africa,  Scipio  having  taken  a  ship  of  Caesar's  in  which 
Granius  Petro,  lately  appointed  quaestor,  was  sailing,  gave 
the  other  passengers  as  free  prize  to  his  soldiers,  but 
thought  fit  to  offer  the  quaestor  his  life.  But  he  said  it 
was  not  usual  for  Caesar's  soldiers  to  take,  but  give  mercy, 

.and  having  said  so,  fell  upon  his  sword  and  killed  himself. 

jj  This  love  of  honor  and  passion  for  distinction  were 
inspired  into  them  and  cherished  in  them  by  Caesar  him- 
self, who,  by  his  unsparing  distribution  of  money  and 
honors,  showed  them  that  he  did  not  heap  up  wealth  from 
the  wars  for  his  own  luxury,  or  the  gratifying  his  private 
pleasures,  but  that  all  he  received  was  but  a  public  fund 
laid  by  for  the  reward  and  encouragement  of  valor,  and 


CiESAR.  267 

that  he  looked  upon  all  he  gave  to  deserving  soldiers  as  so 
much  increase  to  his  own  riches.  Added  to  this,  also, 
there  was  no  danger  to  which  lie  did  not  willingly  expose 
liimself,  no  labor  from  which  he  pleaded  an  exemption. 
His  contempt  of  danger  was  not  so  much  wondered  at  by 
liis  soldiers,  because  they  knew  how  much  he  coveted 
lionor.  But  his  enduring  so  much  hardship,  which  he  did 
to  all  appearance  beyond  his  natural  strength,  very  much 
astonished  them.  For  he  was  a  spare  man,  had  a  soft 
and  white  skin,  was  distempered  in  the  head,  and  sub- 
ject to  an  epilepsy,  which,  it  is  said,  first  seized  him  at 
Corduba.  But  he  did  not  make  the  weakness  of  his  con- 
stitution a  pretext  for  his  ease,  but  rather  used  war  as  the 
best  physic  against  his  indispositions ;  whilst  by  indefati- 
gable journeys,  coarse  diet,  frequent  lodging  in  the  field, 
and  continual  laborious  exercise,  he  struggled  with  his 
diseases,  and  fortified  his  body  against  all  attacks.  He 
slept  generally  in  his  chariots  or  litters,  employing  even 
his  rest  in  pursuit  of  action.  In  the  day  he  was  thus  car- 
ried to  the  forts,  garrisons,  and  camps,  one  servant  sitting 
with  him,  who  used  to  write  down  what  he  dictated  as  he 
went,  and  a  soldier  attending  behind  with  his  sword  drawn. 
He  drove  so  rapidly,  that  when  he  first  left  Rome,  he  ar- 
rived at  the  river  Rhone  within  eight  days.  He  had  been 
an  expert  rider  from  his  childhood ;  for  it  was  usual  with 
him  to  sit  with  his  hands  joined  together  behind  his  back, 
and  so  to  put  his  horse  to  its  full  speed.  And  in  this  war 
he  disciplined  himself  so  far  as  to  be  able  to  dictate  letters 
from  on  horseback,  and  to  give  directions  to  two  who  took 
notes  at  the  same  time,  or,  as  Oppius  says,  to  more.  And 
it  is  thought  that  he  was  the  first  who  contrived  means  for 
communicating  with  friends  by  cipher,  when  either  press 


268  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

of  business,  or  the  large  extent  of  the  city,  left  him  no 
time  for  a  personal  conference  about  matters  that  required 
despatch:^f  How  little  nice  he  was  in  his  diet,  may  be  seen 
in  the  following  instance.  When  at  the  table  of  Valerius 
Leo,  who  entertained  him  at  supper  at  Milan,  a  dish  of 
asparagus  was  put  before  him,  on  which  his  host  instead 
of  oil  had  poured  sweet  ointment.  Caesar  partook  of  it 
without  any  disgust,  and  reprimanded  his  friends  for  find- 
ing fault  with  it.  "  For  it  was  enough,"  said  he,  "  not  to 
eat  what  you  did  not  like ;  but  he  who  reflects  on  another 
man's  want  of  breeding,  shows  he  wants  it  as  much  him- 
self." Another  time  upon  the  road  he  was  driven  by  a 
storm  into  a  poor  man's  cottage,  where  he  found  but  one 
room,  and  that  such  as  would  afford  but  a  mean  reception 
to  a  single  person,  and  therefore  told  his  companions, 
places  of  honor  should  be  given  up  to  the  greater  men, 
and  necessary  accommodations  to  the  weaker,  and  accord- 
ingly ordered  that  Oppius,  who  was  in  bad  health,  should 
lodge  within,  whilst  he  and  the  rest  slept  under  a  shed  at 
the  door. 

His  first  war  in  Gaul  was  against  the  Helvetians  and 
Tigurini,  who  having  burnt  their  own  towns,  twelve  in 
number,  and  four  hundred  villages,  would  have  marched 
forward  through  that  part  of  Gaul  which  was  included  in 
the  Roman  province,  as  the  Cimbrians  and  Teutons  for- 
merly had  done.  Nor  were  they  inferior  to  these  in  cour- 
age ;  and  in  numbers  they  were  equal,  being  in  all  three 
hundred  thousand,  of  which  one  hundred  and  ninety  thou- 
sand were  fighting  men.  Csesar  did  not  engage  the  Tigurini 
in  person,  but  Labienus,  under  his  directions,  routed  them 
near  the  river  Arar.  The  Helvetians  surprised  Ceesar 
and   unexpectedly  set   upon  him   as  he  was   conducting 


CiESAR.  269 

his  army  to  a  confederate  town.  He  succeeded,  however, 
in  making  his  retreat  into  a  strong  position,  where,  when 
he  had  mustered  and  marshalled  his  men,  his  horse  was 
brought  to  him  ;  upon  which  he  said,  "  When  I  have  won 
the  battle,  I  will  use  my  horse  for  the  chase,  but  at  present 
let  us  go  against  the  enemy,"  and  accordingly  charged 
them  on  foot.  After  a  long  and  severe  combat,  he  drove 
the  main  army  out  of  the  field,  but  found  the  hardest 
work  at  their  carriages  and  ramparts,  where  not  only  the 
men  stood  and  fought,  but  the  women  also  and  children 
defended  themselves,  till  they  were  cut  to  pieces;  inso- 
much that  the  fight  was  scarcely  ended  till  midnight. 
This  action,  glorious  in  itself,  Caesar  crowned  with  another 
yet  more  noble,  by  gathering  in  a  body  all  the  barbarians 
that  had  escaped  out  of  the  battle,  above  one  hundred 
thousand  in  number,  and  obliging  them  to  reoccupy  the 
country  which  they  had  deserted,  and  the  cities  which  they 
had  burnt.  This  he  did  for  fear  the  Germans  should  pass 
in  and  possess  themselves  of  the  land  whilst  it  lay  unin- 
habited. 

His  second  war  was  in  defence  of  the  Gauls  against  the 
Germans,  though  some  time  before  he  had  made  Ariovis- 
tus,  their  king,  recognized  at  Rome  as  an  ally.  But  they 
were  very  insufferable  neighbors  to  those  under  his  gov- 
ernment ;  and  it  was  probable,  when  occasion  offered,  they 
would  renounce  the  present  arrangements,  and  march  on 
to  occupy  Gaul.  But  finding  his  officers  timorous,  and 
especially  those  of  the  young  nobility  who  came  along 
with  him  in  hopes  of  turning  their  campaigns  with  him 
into  a  means  for  their  own  pleasure  or  profit,  he  called 
them  together,  and  advised  them  to  march  off,  and  not  run 
the  hazard  of  a  battle  against  their  inclinations,  since  they 


270  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

had  such  weak  and  unmanly  feelings ;  telling  them  that  he 
would  take  only  the  tenth  legion,  and  march  against  the 
barbarians,  whom  he  did  not  expect  to  find  an  enemy  more 
formidable  than  the  Cimbri,  nor,  he  added,  should  they 
find  him  a  general  inferior  to  Marius.  Upon  this,  the 
tenth  legion  deputed  some  of  their  body  to  pay  him  their 
acknowledgments  and  thanks,  and  the  other  legions  blamed 
their  officers,  and  all,  with  great  vigor  and  zeal,  followed 
him  many  days'  journey,  till  they  encamped  within  twenty- 
five  miles  of  the  enemy.  Ariovistus'  courage  to  some 
extent  was  cooled  upon  their  very  approach;  for  never 
expecting  the  Romans  would  attack  the  Germans,  whom 
he  had  thought  it  more  likely  they  would  not  venture  to 
withstand  even  in  defence  of  their  own  subjects,  he  was 
the  more  surprised  at  Caesar's  conduct,  and  saw  his  army 
to  be  in  consternation.  They  were  still  more  discouraged 
by  the  prophecies  of  their  holy  women,  who  foretell  the 
future  by  observing  the  eddies  of  rivers,  and  taking  signs 
from  the  windings  and  noise  of  streams,  and  who  now 
warned  them  not  to  engage  before  the  next  new  moon 
appeared.  Caesar  having  had  intimation  of  this,  and  see- 
ing the  Germans  lie  still,  thought  it  expedient  to  attack 
them  whilst  they  were  under  these  apprehensions,  rather 
than  sit  still  and  wait  their  time.  Accordingly  he  made 
his  approaches  to  the  strong-holds  and  hills  on  which  they 
lay  encamped,  and  so  galled  and  fretted  them,  that  at  last 
they  came  down  with  great  fury  to  engage.  But  he  gained 
a  signal  victory,  and  pursued  them  for  four  hundred  furr 
longs,  as  far  as  the  Rhine ;  all  which  space  was  covered 
with  spoils  and  bodies  of  the  slain.  Ariovistus  made  shift 
to  pass  the  Rhine  with  the  small  remains  of  an  army,  for 
it  is  said  the  number  of  the  slain  amounted  to  eighty 
thousand. 


C^SAR.  271 

After  this  action,  Caesar  left  his  army  at  their  winter 
quarters,  in  the  country  of  the  Sequani,  and  in  order  to 
attend  to  affairs  at  Rome,  went  into  that  part  of  Gaul 
which  lies  on  the  Po,  and  was  part  of  his  province ;  for 
the  river  Rubicon  divides  Gaul,  which  is  on  this  side  the 
Alps,  from  the  rest  of  Italy.  There  he  sat  down  and 
employed  himself  in  courting  people's  favor ;  great  num- 
bers coming  to  him  continually,  and  always  finding  their 
requests  answered ;  for  he  never  failed  to  dismiss  all  with 
present  pledges  of  his  kindness  in  hand,  and  further  hopes 
for  the  future.  And  during  all  this  time  of  the  war  in 
Gaul,  Pompey  never  observed  how  Caesar  was  on  the  one 
hand  using  the  arms  of  Rome  to  effect  his  conquests,  and 
on  the  other  was  gaining  over  and  securing  to  himself  the 
favor  of  the  Romans,  with  the  wealth  which  those  con- 
quests obtained  him.  But  when  he  heard  that  the  Belgae, 
who  were  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  Gauls,  and  inhab- 
ited a  third  part  of  the  country,  were  revolted,  and  had 
got  together  a  great  many  thousand  men  in  arms,  he 
immediately  set  out  and  took  his  way  thither  with  great 
expedition,  and  falling  upon  the  enemy  as  they  were  rav- 
aging the  Gauls,  his  allies,  he  soon  defeated  and  put  to 
flight  the  largest  and  least  scattered  division  of  them ; 
for  though  their  numbers  were  great,  yet  they  made  but  a 
slender  defence,  and  the  marshes  and  deep  rivers  were 
made  passable  to  the  Roman  foot  by  the  vast  quantity  of 
dead  bodies.  Of  those  who  revolted,  all  the  tribes  that 
lived  near  the  ocean  came  over  without  fighting,  and  he, 
therefore,  led  his  army  against  the  Nervii,  the  fiercest  and 
most  warlike  people  of  all  in  those  parts.  These  live  in 
a  country  covered  with  continuous  woods,  and  having 
lodged  their  children  and  property  out  of  the  way  in  the 


272  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

depth  of  the  forest,  fell  upon  Caesar  with  a  body  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  before  he  was  prepared  for  them,  while  he 
was  making  his  encampment.  They  soon  routed  his  cav- 
alry, and  having  surrounded  the  twelfth  and  seventh 
legions,  killed  all  the  officers,  and  had  not  Csesar  himself 
snatched  up  a  buckler  and  forced  his  way  through  his 
own  men  to  come  up  to  the  barbarians,  or  had  not  the 
tenth  legion,  when  they  saw  him  in  danger,  run  in  from 
the  tops  of  the  hills,  where  they  lay,  and  broken  through 
the  enemy's  ranks  to  rescue  him,  in  all  probability  not  a 
Roman  would  have  been  saved.  But  now,  under  the 
influence  of  Caesar's  bold  example,  they  fought  a  battle, 
as  the  phrase  is,  of  more  than  human  courage,  and  yet 
with  their  utmost  efforts  they  were  not  able  to  drive  the 
enemy  out  of  the  field,  but  cut  them  down  fighting  in 
their  defence ;  for  out  of  sixty  thousand  men  it  is  stated 
that  not  above  five  hundred  survived  the  battle,  and  of 
four  hundred  of  their  senators  not  above  three. 

When  the  Roman  senate  had  received  news  of  this, 
they  voted  sacrifices  and  festivals  to  the  gods  to  be 
strictly  observed  for  the  space  of  fifteen  days,  a  longer 
space  than  ever  was  observed  for  any  victory  before. 
The  danger  to  which  they  had  been  exposed  by  the  joint 
outbreak  of  such  a  number  of  nations  was  felt  to  have 
been  great;  and  the  people's  fondness  for  Caesar  gave 
additional  lustre  to  successes  achieved  by  him.  He  now, 
after  settling  everything  in  Gaul,  came  back  again,  and 
spent  the  winter  by  the  Po,  in  order  to  carry  on  the  de- 
signs he  had  in  hand  at  Rome.  All  who  were  candidates 
for  offices  used  his  assistance,  and  were  supplied  with 
money  from  him  to  corrupt  the  people  and  buy  their 
votes,  in  return  of  which,  when  they  were  chosen,  they 


CiESAR.  273 

did  all  things  to  advance  his  power.  But  what  was  more 
considerable,  the  most  eminent  and  powerful  men  in 
Rome  in  great  numbers  came  to  visit  him  at  Lucca,  Pom- 
pey,  and  -Crassus,  and  Appius,  the  governor  of  Sardinia, 
and  Nepos,  the  proconsul  of  Spain,  so  that  there  were  in 
the  place  at  one  time  one  hundred  and  twenty  lictors  and 
more  than  two  hundred  senators.  In  deliberation  here 
held,  it  was  determined  that  Pompey  and  Crassus  should 
be  consuls  again  for  the  following  year;  that  Caesar 
should  have  a  fresh  supply  of  money,  and  that  his  com- 
mand should  be  renewed  to  him  for  five  years  more.  It 
seemed  very  extravagant  to  all  thinking  men,  that  those 
very  persons  who  had  received  so  much  money  from 
Caesar  should  persuade  the  senate  to  grant  him  more,  as 
if  he  were  in  want.  Though  in  truth  it  was  not  so  much 
upon  persuasion  as  compulsion,  that,  with  sorrow  and 
groans  for  their  own  acts,  they  passed  the  measure.  Cato 
was  not  present,  for  they  had  sent  him  seasonably  out  of 
the  way  into  Cyprus;  but  Favonius,  who  was  a  zealous 
imitator  of  Cato,  when  he  found  he  could  do  no  good  by 
opposing  it,  broke  out  of  the  house,  and  loudly  declaimed 
against  these  proceedings  to  the  people,  but  none  gave 
him  any  hearing;  some  slighting  him  out  of  respect  to 
Crassus  and  Pompey,  and  the  greater  part  to  gratify 
Caesar,  on  whom  depended  their  hopes. 

After  this,  Caesar  returned  again  to  his  forces  in  Gaul, 
where  he  found  that  country  involved  in  a  dangerous 
war,  two  strong  nations  of  the  Germans  having  lately 
passed  the  Rhine  to  conquer  it ;  one  of  them  called  the 
Usipes,  the  other  the  Tenteritae.  Of  the  war  with  this 
people,  Caesar  himself  has  given  this  account  in  his  com- 
mentaries, that  the  barbarians,  having  sent   ambassadors 


274  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

to  treat  with  him,  did,  during  the  treaty,  set  upon  him  in 
his  march,  by  which  means  with  eight  hundred  men  they 
routed  five  thousand  of  his  horse,  who  did  not  suspect 
their  coming;  that  afterwards  they  sent  other-  ambassa- 
dors to  renew  the  same  fraudulent  practices,  whom  he 
kept  in  custody,  and  led  on  his  army  against  the  barba- 
rians, as  judging  it  mere  simplicity  to  keep  faith  with 
those  who  had  so  faithlessly  broken  the  terms  they  had 
agreed  to.  But  Tanusius  states,  that  when  the  senate 
decreed  festivals  and  sacrifices  for  this  victory,  Cato 
declared  it  to  be  his  opinion  that  Caesar  ought  to  be  given 
into  the  hands  of  the  barbarians,  that  so  the  guilt  which 
this  breach  of  faith  might  otherwise  bring  upon  the  state, 
might  be  expiated  by  transferring  the  curse  on  him,  who 
was  the  occasion  of  it.  Of  those  who  passed  the  Rhine, 
there  were  four  hundred  thousand  cut  off;  those  few  who 
escaped  were  sheltered  by  the  Sugambri,  a  people  of  Ger- 
many. Caesar  took  hold  of  this  pretence  to  invade  the 
Germans,  being  at  the  same  time  ambitious  of  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  man  that  should  pass  the  Rhine  with  an 
army.  He  carried  a  bridge  across  it,  though  it  was  very 
wide,  and  the  current  at  that  particular  point  very  full, 
strong,  and  violent,  bringing  down  with  its  waters  trunks 
of  trees,  and  other  lumber,  which  much  shook  and  weak- 
ened the  foundations  of  his  bridge.  But  he  drove  great 
piles  of  wood  into  the  bottom  of  the  river  above  the  pas- 
sage, to  catch  and  stop  these  as  they  floated  down,  and 
thus  fixing  his  bridle  upon  the  stream,  successfully  fin- 
ished his  bridge,  which  no  one  who  saw  could  believe  to 
be  the  work  but  of  ten  days. 

In  the  passage   of  his  army  over  it,  he  met  with  no 
opposition ;  the  Suevi  themselves,  who  are  the  most  war- 


C^SAR.  275 

like  people  of  all  Germany,  flying  with  their  effects  into 
the  deepest  and  most  densely  wooded  valleys.  When  he 
had  burnt  all  the  enemy's  country,  and  encouraged  those 
who  embraced  the  Roman  interest,  he  went  back  into 
Gaul,  after  eighteen  days'  stay  in  Germany.  But  his 
expedition  into  Britain  was  the  most  famous  testimony  of 
his  courage.  For  he  was  the  first  wlio  brought  a  navy 
into  the  western  ocean,  or  who  sailed  into  the  Atlantic 
with  an  army  to  make  war;  and  by  invading  an  island, 
the  reported  extent  of  which  had  made  its  existence  a 
matter  of  controversy  among  historians,  many  of  whom 
questioned  whether  it  were  not  a  mere  name  and  fiction, 
not  a  real  place,  he  might  be  said  to  have  carried  the 
Roman  empire  beyond  the  limits  of  the  known  world. 
He  passed  thither  twice  from  that  part  of  Gaul  which  lies 
over  against  it,  and  in  several  battles  which  he  fought,  did 
more  hurt  to  the  enemy  than  service  to  himself,  for  the 
islanders  were  so  miserably  poor  that  they  had  nothing 
worth  being  plundered  of.  When  he  found  himself 
unable  to  put  such  an  end  to  the  war  as  he  wished,  he 
was  content  to  take  hostages  from  the  king,  and  to  impose 
a  tribute,  and  then  quitted  the  island.  At  his  arrival  in 
Gaul,  he  found  letters  which  lay  ready  to  be  conveyed 
over  the  water  to  him  from  his  friends  at  Rome,  announc- 
ing his  daughter's  death  at  the  birth  of  a  child.  Csesar 
and  Pompey,  her  husband,  both  were  much  afflicted  with 
lier  death,  nor  were  their  friends  less  disturbed,  believing 
that  the  alliance  was  now  broken,  which  had  hitherto 
kept  the  sickly  commonwealth  in  peace,  for  the  child  also 
died  within  a  few  days  after  the  mother.  The  people 
took  the  body  of  Julia,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
tribunes,  and  carried  it  into  the  field  of  Mars,  and  there 
her  funeral  rites  were  performed  and  her  remains  afe  laid. 


276  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Csesar's  army  was  now  grown  very  numerous,  so  that 
he  was  forced  to  disperse  them  into  various  camps  for 
their  winter-quarters,  and  he  having  gone  himself  to  Italy, 
as  he  used  to  do,  in  his  absence  a  general  outbreak  through- 
out the  whole  of  Gaul  commenced,  and  large  armies 
marched  about  the  country,  and  attacked  the  Roman 
quarters,  and  attempted  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the 
forts  where  they  lay.  The  greatest  and  strongest  party 
of  the  rebels,  under  the  command  of  Abriorix,  cut  off  Gotta 
and  Titurius  with  all  their  men,  while  a  force  sixty  thou- 
sand strong  besieged  the  legion  under  the  command  of 
Gicero,^  and  had  almost  taken  it  by  storm,  the  Roman  sol- 
diers being  all  wounded,  and  having  quite  spent  themselves 
by  a  defence  beyond  their  natural  strength.  But  Gsesar, 
who  was  at  a  great  distance,  having  received  the  news, 
quickly  got  together  seven  thousand  men,  and  hastened 
to  relieve  Gicero.  The  besiegers  were  aware  of  it,  and 
went  to  meet  him,  with  great  confidence  that  they  should 
easily  overpower  such  an  handful  of  men.  Caesar,  to  in- 
crease their  presumption,  seemed  to  avoid  fighting,  and 
still  marched  off,  till  he  found  a  place  conveniently  situated 
for  a  few  to  engage  against  many,  where  he  encamped. 
He  kept  his  soldiers  from  making  any  attack  upon  the 
enemy,  and  commanded  them  to  raise  the  ramparts  higher, 
and  barricade  the  gates,  that  by  show  of  fear,  they  might 
heighten  the  enemy's  contempt  of  them.  Till  at  last  they 
came  without  any  order  in  great  security  to  make  an  as- 
sault, when  he  issued  forth,  and  put  them  to  flight  with 
the  loss  of  many  men. 

This  quieted  the  greater  part  of  the  commotion  in  these 
parts  of  Gaul,  and  Csesar,  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  vis- 

1  Quiutus  Cicero,  the  orator's  brother. 


C^SAR.  277 

ited  every  part  of  the  country,  and  with  great  vigilance 
took  precautions  against  all  innovations.  For  there  were 
three  legions  now  come  to  him  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
men  he  had  lost,  of  which  Pompey  furnished  him  with  two, 
out  of  those  under  his  command;  the  other  was  newly 
raised  in  the  part  of  Gaul  by  the  Po.  But  in  a  while  the  . 
seeds  of  war,  which  had  long  since  been  secretly  sown  and 
scattered  by  the  most  powerful  men  in  those  warlike  na- 
tions, broke  forth  into  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous 
war  that  ever  was  in  those  parts,  both  as  regards  the  num- 
ber of  men  in  the  vigor  of  their  youth  who  were  gathered 
and  armed  from  all  quarters,  the  vast  funds  of  money  col- 
lected to  maintain  it,  the  strength  of  the  towns,  and  the 
difficulty  of  the  country  where  it  was  carried  on.  It  being 
winter,  the  rivers  were  frozen,  the  woods  covered  with 
snow,  and  the  level  country  flooded,  so  that  in  some  places 
the  ways  were  lost  through  the  depth  of  the  snow;  in 
others,  the  overflowing  of  marshes  and  streams  made  every 
kind  of  passage  uncertain.  All  which  difficulties  made  it 
seem  impracticable  for  Csesar  to  make  any  attempt  upon 
the  insurgents.  Many  tribes  had  revolted  together,  the 
chief  of  them  being  the  Arverni  and  Carnutini ;  ^  the  gen- 
eral who  had  the  supreme  command  in  war  was  Vergen- 
torix,  whose  father  the  Gauls  had  put  to  death  on  suspicion 
of  his  aiming  at  absolute  government. 

He  having  disposed  his  army  in  several  bodies,  and  set 
officers  over  them,  drew  over  to  him  all  the  country  round 
about  as  far  as  those  that  lie  upon  the  Arar,  and  having 

1  The  Arverni,  the  same  people  whom  he  presently  calls  the  Aruveni,  of  the 
mountains  of  Auvergne,  and  the  Carnutes  of  the  country  around  Orleans. 
Vergentorix  appears  to  be  a  Greek  abbreviation  of  Vercingetorix,  the  full  name 
given  by  Caesar,  which  is  itself  conceived  to  have  been  not  a  proper  name,  but 
a  title. 


278  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

intelligence  of  the  opposition  which  Caesar  now  experienced 
at  Rome,  thought  to  engage  all  Gaul  in  the  war.  Which 
if  he  had  done  a  little  later,  when  Caesar  was  taken  up 
with  the  civil  wars,  Italy  had  been  put  into  as  great  a  ter- 
ror as  before  it  was  by  the  Cimbri.  But  Caesar,  who  above 
all  men  was  gifted  with  the  faculty  of  making  the  right 
use  of  everything  in  war,  and  most  especially  of  seizing 
the  right  moment,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  revolt,  re- 
turned immediately  the  same  way  he  went,  and  showed 
the  barbarians,  by  the  quickness  of  his  march  in  such  a 
severe  season,  that  an  army  was  advancing  against  them 
which  was  invincible.  For  in  the  time  that  one  would 
have  thought  it  scarce  credible  that  a  courier  or  express 
should  have  come  with  a  message  from  him,  he  himself 
appeared  with  all  his  army,  ravaging  the  country,  reducing 
their  posts,  subduing  their  towns,  receiving  into  his  pro- 
tection those  who  declared  for  him.  Till  at  last  the  Edui, 
who  hitherto  had  styled  themselves  brethren  to  the  Romans, 
and  had  been  much  honored  by  them,  declared  against  him, 
and  joined  the  rebels,  to  the  great  discouragement  of  his 
army.  Accordingly  he  removed  thence,  and  passed  the 
country  of  the  Lingones,  desiring  to  reach  the  territories 
of  the  Sequani,  who  were  his  friends,  and  who  lay  like  a 
bulwark  in  front  of  Italy  against  the  other  tribes  of  Gaul. 
There  the  enemy  came  upon  him,  and  surrounded  him 
with  many  myriads,  whom  he  also  was  eager  to  engage ; 
and  at  last,  after  some  time  and  with  much  slaughter, 
gained  on  the  whole  a  complete  victory ;  though  at  first  he 
appears  to  have  met  with  some  reverse,  and  the  Aruveni 
show  you  a  small  sword  hanging  up  in  a  temple,  which 
they  say  was  taken  from  Caesar.  Caesar  saw  this  afterwards 
himself,  and  smiled,  and  when  his  friends  advised  it  should 


C^SAK.  279 

be  taken  down,  would  not  permit  it,  because  he  looked 
upon  it  as  consecrated. 

After  the  defeat,  a  great  part  of  those  who  had  escaped, 
fled  with  their  king  into  a  town  called  Alesia,  which  Csesar 
besieged,  though  the  height  of  the  walls,  and  number  of 
those  who  defended  them,  made  it  appear  impregnable ; 
and  meantime,  from  without  the  walls,  he  was  assailed  by 
a  greater  danger  than  can  be  expressed.  For  the  choice 
men  of  Gaul,  picked  out  of  each  nation,  and  well  armed, 
came  to  relieve  Alesia,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred 
thousand ;  nor  were  there  in  the  town  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  thousand.  So  that  Caesar  being  shut  up 
betwixt  two  such  forces,  was  compelled  to  protect  himself 
by  two  walls,  one  towards  the  town,  the  other  against  the 
relieving  army,  as  knowing  if  these  forces  should  join,  his 
affairs  would  be  entirely  ruined.  The  danger  that  he  un- 
derwent before  Alesia,^  justly  gained  him  great  honor  on 
many  accounts,  and  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  showing 
greater  instances  of  his  valor  and  conduct  than  any  other 
contest  had  done.  One  wonders  much  how  he  should  be 
able  to  engage  and  defeat  so  many  thousands  of  men  with- 
out the  town,  and  not  be  perceived  by  those  within,  but 
yet  more,  that  the  Romans  themselves,  who  guarded  their 
wall  which  was  next  the  town,  should  be  strangers  to  it. 
For  even  they  knew  nothing  of  the  victory,  till  they  heard 
the  cries  of  the  men  and  lamentations  of  the  women  who 
were  in  the  town,  and  had  from  thence  seen  the  Romans 

1  Alesia  is  identified  with  Alise,  or  with  the  summit  of  Mount  Auxois,  near 
Flavigny,  not  far  from  Dijon.  The  course  of  Roman  occupation,  interposing 
between  Central  Gaul  and  the  German  competitors  for  its  possession,  seems  to 
follow  the  line  of  the  Rhone  and  Saone  upwards,  and  the  Meuse  and  Moselle 
downwards,  from  Marseilles  and  Lyons  to  Treves  and  the  Rhine.  Alesia  is 
near  the  head  waters  of  the  Saone. 


280  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

at  a  distance  carrying  into  their  camp  a  great  quantity  of 
bucklers,  adorned  with  gold  and  silver,  many  breastplates 
stained  with  blood,  besides  cups  and  tents  made  in  the 
Gallic  fashion.  So  soon  did  so  vast  an  army  dissolve  and 
vanish  like  a  ghost  or  dream,  the  greatest  part  of  them 
being  killed  upon  the  spot.  Those  who  were  in  Alesia, 
having  given  themselves  and  Caesar  much  trouble,  surren- 
dered at  last ;  and  Vergentorix,  who  was  the  chief  spring 
of  all  the  war,  putting  his  best  armor  on,  and  adorning 
his  horse,  rode  out  of  the  gates,  and  made  a  turn  about 
Csesar  as  he  was  sitting,  then  quitted  his  horse,  threw  off 
his  armor,  and  remained  seated  quietly  at  Caesar's  feet 
until  he  was  led  away  to  be  reserved  for  the  triumph. 

Caesar  had  long  ago  resolved  upon  the  overthrow  of 
Pompey,  as  had  Pompey,  for  that  matter,  upon  his.  For 
Crassus,  the  fear  of  whom  had  hitherto  kept  them  in 
peace,  having  now  been  killed  in  Parthia,  if  the  one  of 
them  wished  to  make  himself  the  greatest  man  in  Rome, 
he  had  only  to  overthrow  the  other;  and  if  he  again 
wished  to  prevent  his  own  fall,  he  had  nothing  for  it  but 
to  be  beforehand  with  him  whom  he  feared.  Pompey 
had  not  been  long  under  any  such  apprehensions,  having 
till  lately  despised  Caesar,  as  thinking  it  no  difficult  mat- 
ter to  put  down  him  whom  he  himself  had  advanced. 
But  Caesar  had  entertained  this  design  from  the  begin- 
ning against  his  rivals,  and  had  retired,  like  an  expert 
wrestler,  to  prepare  himself  apart  for  the  combat.  Mak- 
ing the  Gallic  wars  his  exercise-ground,  he  had  at  once 
improved  the  strength  of  his  soldiery,  and  had  heightened 
his  own  glory  by  his  great  actions,  so  that  he  was  looked 
on  as  one  who  might  challenge  comparison  with  Pompey. 
Nor  did  he  let  go  any  of  those  advantages  which  were 


C^SAR.  281 

now  given  him  both  by  Pompey  himself  and  the  times, 
and  the  ill  government  of  Rome,  where  all  who  were 
candidates  for  offices  publicly  gave  money,  and  without 
any  shame  bribed  the  people,  who  having  received  their 
pay,  did  not  contend  for  their  benefactors  with  their  bare 
suffrages,  but  with  bows,  swords,  and  slings.  So  that 
after  having  many  times  stained  the  place  of  election 
with  the  blood  of  men  killed  upon  the  spot,  they  left  the 
city  at  last  without  a  government  at  all,  to  be  carried 
about  like  a  ship  without  a  pilot  to  steer  her ;  while  all 
who  had  any  wisdom  could  only  be  thankful  if  a  course 
of  such  wild  and  stormy  disorder  and  madness  might  end 
no  worse  than  in  a  monarchy.  Some  were  so  bold  as  to 
declare  openly,  that  the  government  was  incurable  but  by 
a  monarchy,  and  that  they  ought  to  take  that  remedy 
from  the  hands  of  the  gentlest  physician,  meaning  Pom- 
pey, who,  though  in  words  he  pretended  to  decline  it,  yet 
in  reality  made  his  utmost  efforts  to  be  declared  dictator. 
Cato  perceiving  his  design,  prevailed  with  the  senate  to 
make  him  sole  consul,  that  with  the  offer  of  a  more  legal 
sort  of  monarchy  he  might  be  withheld  from  demanding 
the  dictatorship.  They  over  and  above  voted  him  the 
continuance  of  his  provinces,  for  he  had  two,  Spain  and  all 
Africa,  which  he  governed  by  his  lieutenants,  and  main- 
tained armies  under  him,  at  the  yearly  charge  of  a  thou- 
sand talents  out  of  the  public  treasury. 

Upon  this,  Caesar  also  sent  and  petitioned  for  the  con- 
sulship, and  the  continuance  of  his  provinces.  Pompey 
at  first  did  not  stir  in  it,  but  Marcellus  and  Lentulus  op- 
posed it,  who  had  always  hated  Caesar,  and  now  did  every- 
thing, whether  fit  or  unfit,  which  might  disgrace  and 
affront  him.     For  they  took  away  the  privilege  of  Roman 


282  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

citizens  from  the  people  of  New  Comum,  who  were  a 
colony  that  Caesar  had  lately  planted  in  Gaul ;  and  Mar- 
cellus,  who  was  then  consul,  ordered  one  of  the  senators 
of  that  town,  then  at  Rome,  to  be  whipped,  and  told  him 
he  laid  that  mark  upon  him  to  signify  he  was  no  citizen 
of  Rome,  bidding  him,  when  he  went  back  again,  to  show 
it  to  Caesar.  After  Marcellus'  consulship,  Caesar  began  to 
lavish  gifts  upon  all  the  public  men  out  of  the  riches  he 
had  taken  from  the  Gauls.  Pompey,  alarmed  at  this,  now 
openly  took  steps,  both  by  himself  and  his  friends,  to 
have  a  successor  appointed  in  Caesar's  room,  and  sent  to 
demand  back  the  soldiers  whom  he  had  lent  him  to  carry 
on  the  wars  in  Gaul.  Caesar  returned  them,  and  made 
each  soldier  a'present  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  drachmas. 
The  officer  who  brought  them  home  to  Pompey,  spread 
amongst  the  people  no  very  fair  or  favorable  report  of 
Caesar,  and  flattered  Pompey  himself  with  false  sugges- 
tions that  he  was  wished  for  by  Caesar's  army;  and 
though  his  affairs  here  were  in  some  embarrassment 
through  the  envy  of  some,  and  the  ill  state  of  the  gov- 
ernment, yet  there  the  army  was  at  his  command,  and  if 
they  once  crossed  into  Italy,  would  presently  declare  for 
him ;  so  weary  were  they  of  Caesar's  endless  expeditions, 
and  so  suspicious  of  his  designs  for  a  monarchy.  Upon 
this  Pompey  grew  presumptuous,  and  neglected  all  war- 
like preparations,  as  fearing  no  danger,  and  used  no  other 
means  against  him  than  mere  speeches  and  votes,  for  which 
Caesar  cared  nothing.  And  one  of  his  captains,  it  is  said, 
who  was  sent  by  him  to  Rome,  standing  before  the  senate- 
house  one  day,  and  being  told  that  the  senate  would  not 
give  Caesar  a  longer  time  in  his  government,  clapped 
his  hand  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword,  an(J  said,  "But  this 
shall." 


C^SAR.  283 

Yet  the  demands  which  Csesar  made  had  the  fairest 
colors  of  equity  imaginable.  For  he  proposed  to  lay 
down  his  arms,  and  that  Pompey  should  do  the  same, 
and  both  together  should  become  private  men,  and  each 
expect  a  reward  of  his  services  from  the  public.  For 
that  those  who  proposed  to  disarm  him,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  confirm  Pompey  in  all  the  power  he  held,  were 
simply  establishing  the  one  in  the  tyranny  which  they 
accused  the  other  of  aiming  at.  When  Curio  made  these 
proposals  to  the  people  in  Caesar's  name,  he  was  loudly 
applauded,  and  some  threw  garlands  towards  him,  and 
dismissed  him  as  they  do  successful  wrestlers,  crowned 
with  flowers.  Antony,  being  tribune,  produced  a  letter 
sent  from  Caesar  on  this  occasion,  and  read  it,  though  the 
consuls  did  what  they  could  to  oppose  it.  But  Scipio, 
Pompey's  father-in-law,  proposed  in  the  senate,  that  if 
Caesar  did  not  lay  down  his  arms  within  such  a  time,  he 
should  be  voted  an  enemy ;  and  the  consuls  putting  it  to 
the  question,  whether  Pompey  should  dismiss  his  soldiers, 
and  again,  whether  Caesar  should  disband  his,  very  few 
assented  to  the  first,  but  almost  all  to  the  latter.  But 
Antony  proposing  again,  that  both  should  lay  down  their 
commissions,  all  but  a  very  few  agreed  to  it.  Scipio  was 
upon  this  very  violent,  and  Lentulus  the  consul  cried 
aloud,  that  they  had  need  of  arms,  and  not  of  suffrages, 
against  a  robber;  so  that  the  senators  for  the  present 
adjourned,  and  appeared  in  mourning  as  a  mark  of  their 
grief  for  the  dissension. 

Afterwards  there  came  other  letters  from  Caesar,  which 
seemed  yet  more  moderate,  for  he  proposed  to  quit  every- 
thing else,  and  only  to  retain  Gaul  within  the  Alps,  Illyri- 
cum,  and  two  legions,  till  he  should  stand  a  second  time 


284  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

for  consul.  Cicero,  the  orator,  who  was  lately  returned 
from  Cilicia,  endeavored  to  reconcile  differences,  and  soft- 
ened Pompey,  who  was  willing  to  comply  in  other  things, 
but  not  to  allow  him  the  soldiers.  At  last  Cicero  used  his 
persuasions  with  Caesar's  friends  to  accept  of  the  provinces, 
and  six  thousand  soldiers  only,  and  so  to  make  up  the  quar- 
rel. And  Pompey  was  inclined  to  give  way  to  this,  but 
Lentulus,  the  consul,  would  not  hearken  to  it,  but  drove 
Antony  and  Curio  out  of  the  senate-house  with  insults, 
by  which  he  afforded  Caesar  the  most  plausible  pretence 
that  could  be,  and  one  which  he  could  readily  use  to 
inflame  the  soldiers,  by  showing  them  two  persons  of  such 
repute  and  authority,  who  were  forced  to  escape  in  a  hired 
carriage  in  the  dress  of  slaves.  For  so  they  were  glad  to 
disguise  themselves,  when  they  fled  out  of  Rome. 

There  were  not  about  him  at  that  time  above  three 
hundred  horse,  and  five  thousand  foot ;  for  the  rest  of  his 
army,  which  was  left  behind  the  Alps,  was  to  be  brought 
after  him  by  officers  who  had  received  orders  for  that  pur- 
pose. But  he  thought  the  first  motion  towards  the  design 
which  he  had  on  foot  did  not  require  large  forces  at  pres- 
ent, and  that  what  was  wanted  was  to  make  this  first  step 
suddenly,  and  so  as  to  astound  his  enemies  with  the  bold- 
ness of  it;  as  it  would  be  easier,  he  thought,  to  throw 
them  into  consternation  by  doing  what  they  never  antici- 
pated, than  fairly  to  conquer  them,  if  he  had  alarmed  them 
by  his  preparations.  And  therefore,  he  commanded  his 
captains  and  other  officers  to  go  only  with  their  swords  in 
their  hands,  without  any  other  arms,  and  make  "themselves 
masters  of  Ariminum,  a  large  city  of  Gaul,  with  as  little 
disturbance  and  bloodshed  as  possible.  He  committed  the 
care  of  these  forces  to  Hortensius,  and  himself  spent  the 


\ 


C^SAR.  285 

day  in  public  as  a  stander-by  and  spectator  of  the  gladia- 
tors, who  exercised  before  him.  A  little  before  night  he 
attended  to  his  person,  and  then  went  into  the  hall,  and 
conversed  for  some  time  with  those  he  had  invited  to  sup- 
per, till  it  began  to  grow  dusk,  when  he  rose  from  table, 
and  made  his  excuses  to  the  company,  begging  them  to 
stay  till  he  came  back,  having  already  given  private  direc- 
tions to  a  few  immediate  friends  that  they  should  follow 
him,  not  all  the  same  way,  but  some  one  way,  some 
another.  He  himself  got  into  one  of  the  hired  carriages, 
and  drove  at  first  another  way,  but  presently  turned 
towards  Ariminum.  When  he  came  to  the  river  Rubicon, 
which  parts  Gaul  within  the  Alps  from  the  rest  of  Italy, 
his  thoughts  began  to  work,  now  he  was  just  entering  upon 
the  danger,  and  he  wavered  much  in  his  mind,  when  he 
considered  the  greatness  of  the  enterprise  into  which  he 
was  throwing  himself.  He  checked  his  course,  and  ordered 
a  halt,  while  he  revolved  with  himself,  and  often  changed 
his  opinion  one  way  and  the  other,  without  speaking  a 
word.  This  was  when  his  purposes  fluctuated  most; 
presently  he  also  discussed  the  matter  with  his  friends  who 
were  about  him  (of  which  number  Asinius  Pollio  was 
one),  computing  how  many  calamities  his  passing  that 
river  would  bring  upon  mankind,  and  what  a  relation  of  it 
would  be  transmitted  to  posterity.  At  last,  in  a  sort  of 
passion,  casting  aside  calculation,  and  abandoning  himself 
to  what  might  come,  and  using  the  proverb  frequently  in 
their  mouths  who  enter  upon  dangerous  and  bold  attempts, 
"The  die  is  cast,"  with  these  words  he  took  the  river. 
Once  over,  he  used  all  expedition  possible,  and  before  it 
was  day  reached  Ariminum,  and  took  it. 

As  soon  as  Ariminum  was  taken,  wide  gates,  so  to  say. 


286  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

were  thrown  open,  to  let  in  war  upon  every  land  alike  and 
sea,  and  with  the  limits  of  the  province,  the  boundaries  of 
the  laws  were  transgressed.  Nor  would  one  have  thought 
that,  as  at  other  times,  the  mere  men  and  women  fled  from 
one  town  of  Italy  to  another  in  their  consternation,  but 
that  the  very  towns  themselves  left  their  sites,  and  fled  for 
succor  to  each  other.  The  city  of  Rome  was  overrun  as 
it  were  with  a  deluge,  by  the  conflux  of  people  flying  in 
from  all  the  neighboring  places.  Magistrates  could  no 
longer  govern,  nor  the  eloquence  of  any  orator  quiet  it ; 
it  was  all  but  suffering  shipwreck  by  the  violence  of  its 
own  tempestuous  agitation.  The  most  vehement  contrary 
passions  and  impulses  were  at  work  everywhere.  Nor  did 
those  who  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  the  change  altogether 
conceal  their  feelings,  but  when  they  met,  as  in  so  great  a 
city  they  frequently  must,  with  the  alarmed  and  dejected 
of  the  other  party,  they  provoked  quarrels  by  their  bold 
expressions  of  confidence  in  the  event.  Pompey,  suf- 
ficiently disturbed  of  himself,  was  yet  more  perplexed  by 
the  clamors  of  others;  some  telling  him  that  he  justly 
suffered  for  having  armed  Caesar  against  himself  and  the 
government ;  others  blaming  him  for  permitting  Caesar  to 
be  insolently  used  by  Lentulus,  when  he  made  such  ample 
concessions,  and  offered  such  reasonable  proposals  towards 
an  accommodation.  Favonius  bade  him  now  stamp  upon 
the  ground ;  for  once  talking  big  in  the  senate,  he  desired 
them  not  to  trouble  themselves  about  making  ^ny  prepara- 
tions for  the  war,  for  that  he  himself,  with  one  stamp  of 
his  foot,  would  fill  all  Italy  with  soldiers.  Yet  still  Pom- 
pey at  that  time  had  more  forces  than  Caesar ;  but  he  was 
not  permitted  to  pursue  his  own  thoughts,  but  being  con- 
tinually disturbed  with  false  reports  and  alarms,  as  if  the 


CiESAR.  287 

enemy  was  close  upon  him  and  carrying  all  before  him,  he 
gave  way,  and  let  himself  be  borne  down  by  the  general 
cry.  He  put  forth  an  edict  declaring  the  city  to  be  in  a 
state  of  anarchy,  and  left  it  with  orders  that  the  senate 
should  follow  him,  and  that  no  one  should  stay  behind  who 
did  not  prefer  tyranny  to  their  country  and  liberty. 

The  consuls  at  once  fled,  without  making  even  the  usual 
sacrifices ;  so  did  most  of  the  senators,  carrying  off  their 
own  goods  in  as  much  haste  as  if  they  had  been  robbing 
their  neighbors.  Some,  who  had  formerly  much  favored 
Caesar's  cause,  in  the  prevailing  alarm,  quitted  their  own 
sentiments,  and  without  any  prospect  of  good  to  them- 
selves, were  carried  along  by  the  common  stream.  It  was 
a  melancholy  thing  to  see  the  city  tossed  in  these  tumults, 
like  a  ship  given  up  by  her  pilots,  and  left  to  run,  as 
chance  guides  her,  upon  any  rock  in  her  way.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  their  sad  condition,  people  still  esteemed  the  place 
of  their  exile  to  be  their  country  for  Pompey's  sake,  and 
fled  from  Rome,  as  if  it  had  been  Caesar's  camp.  Labienus 
even,  who  had  been  one  of  Caesar's  nearest  friends,  and 
his  lieutenant,  and  who  had  fought  by  him  zealously  in  the 
Gallic  wars,  now  deserted  him,  and  went  over  to  Pompey. 
Caesar  sent  all  his  money  and  equipage  after  him,  and  then 
sat  down  before  Corfinium,  which  was  garrisoned  with 
thirty  cohorts  under  the  command  of  Domitius.  He,  in 
despair  of  maintaining  the  defence,  requested  a  physician, 
whom  he  had  among  his  attendants,  to  give  him  poison ; 
and  taking  the  dose,  drank  it,  in  hopes  of  being  dispatched 
by  it.  But  soon  after,  when  he  was  told  that  Caesar 
showed  the  utmost  clemency  towards  those  he  took  prison- 
ers, he  lamented  his  misfortune,  and  blamed  the  hastiness 
of  his  resolution.     His  physician  consoled  him,  by  inform- 


288  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

ing  him  that  he  had  taken  a  sleeping  draught,  not  a  poi- 
■son;  upon  which,  much  rejoiced,  and  rising  from  his  bed, 
he  went  presently  to  Caesar,  and  gave  him  the  pledge  of 
his  hand,  yet  afterwards  again  went  over  to  Pompey. 
The  report  of  these  actions  at  Rome  quieted  those  who 
were  there,  and  some  who  had  fled  thence  returned. 

Caesar  took  into  his  army  Domitius'  soldiers,  as  he  did 
all  those  whom  he  found  in  any  town  enlisted  for  Pom- 
pey's  service.  Being  now  strong  and  formidable  enough, 
he  advanced  against  Pompey  himself,  who  did  not  stay  to 
receive  him,  but  fled  to  Brundisium,  having  sent  the  con- 
suls before  with  a  body  of  troops  to  Dyrrhachium.  Soon 
after,  upon  Caesar's  approach,  he  set  to  sea.  Caesar  would 
have  immediately  pursued  him,  but  wanted  shipping,  and 
therefore  went  back  to  Rome,  having  made  himself  master 
of  all  Italy  without  bloodshed  in  the  space  of  sixty  days. 
When  he  came  thither,  he  found  the  city  more  quiet  than 
he  expected,  and  many  senators  present,  to  whom  he  ad- 
dressed himself  with  courtesy  and  deference,  desiring 
them  to  send  to  Pompey  about  any  reasonable  accommo- 
dations towards  a  peace.  But  nobody  complied  with  this 
proposal ;  whether  out  of  fear  of  Pompey,  whom  they  had 
deserted,  or  that  they  thought  Caesar  did  not  mean  what 
he  said,  but  thought  it  his  interest  to  talk  plausibly. 
Afterwards,  when  Metellus,  the  tribune,  would  have  hin- 
dered him  from  taking  money  out  of  the  public  treasure, 
and  adduced  some  laws  against  it,  Caesar  replied,  that 
arms  and  laws  had  each  their  own  time ;  "  If  what  I  do 
displeases  you,  leave  the  place ;  war  allows  no  free  talk- 
ing. When  I  have  laid  down  my  arms,  and  made  peace, 
come  back  and  make  what  speeches  you  please.  And 
this,"  he  added,  "I  tell  you  in  diminution  of  my  own 


C^SAR.  289 

just  right,  as  indeed  you  and  all  others  who  have  appeared 
against  me  and  are  now  in  my  power,  may  be  treated  as  I 
please."  Having  said  this  to  Metellus,  he  went  to  the 
doors  of  the  treasury,  and  the  keys  being  not  to  be  found, 
sent  for  smiths  to  force  them  open.  Metellus  again 
making  resistance,  and  some  encouraging  him  in  it,  Caesar, 
in  a  louder  tone,  told  him  he  would  put  him  to  death,  if 
he  gave  him  any  further  disturbance.  "  And  this,"  said  he 
"you  know,  young  man,  is  more  disagreeable  for  me  to 
say  than  to  do."  These  words  made  Metellus  withdraw 
for  fear,  and  obtained  speedy  execution  henceforth  for 
all  orders  that  Caesar  gave  for  procuring  necessaries  for 
the  war. 

He  was  now  proceeding  to  Spain,  with  the  determina- 
tion of  first  crushing  Afranius  and  Varro,  Pompey's  lieu- 
tenants, and  making  himself  master  of  the  armies  and 
provinces  under  them,  that  he  might  then  more  securely 
advance  against  Pompey,  when  he  had  no  enemy  left 
behind  him.  In  this  expedition  his  person  was  often  in 
danger  from  ambuscades,  and  his  army  by  want  of  pro- 
visions, yet  he  did  not  desist  from  pursuing  the  enemy, 
provoking  them  to  fight,  and  hemming  them  with  his 
fortifications,  till  by  main  force  he  made  himself  master 
of  their  camps  and  their  forces.  Only  the  generals  got 
off,  and  fled  to  Pompey. 

When  Caesar  came  back  to  Rome,  Piso,  his  father-in- 
law,  advised  him  to  send  men  to  Pompey,  to  treat  of  a 
peace;  but  Isauricus,  to  ingratiate  himself  with  Caesar, 
spoke  against  it.  After  this,  being  created  dictator  by 
the  senate,  he  called  home  the  exiles,  and  gave  back  their 
rights  as  citizens  to  the  children  of  those  who  had  suf- 
fered under  Sylla;    he  relieved   the    debtors   by   an  act 


290  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

remitting  some  part  of  the  interest  on  their  debts,  and 
passed  some  other  measures  of  the  same  sort,  but  not 
many.  For  within  eleven  days  he  resigned  his  dictator- 
ship, and  having  declared  himself  consul,  with  Servilius 
Isauricus,  hastened  again  to  the  war.  He  marched  so  fast, 
that  he  left  all  his  army  behind  him,  except  six  hundred 
chosen  horse,  and  five  legions,  with  which  he  put  to  sea  in 
the  very  middle  of  winter,  and  having  past  the  Ionian 
Sea,  took  Oricum  and  ApoUonia,  and  then  sent  back  the 
ships  to  Brundisium,  to  bring  over  the  soldiers  who  were 
left  behind  in  the  march.  They,  while  yet  on  the  march, 
their  bodies  now  no  longer  in  the  full  vigor  of  youth,  and 
they  themselves  weary  with  such  a  multitude  of  wars, 
could  not  but  exclaim  against  Caesar,  "  When  at  last,  and 
where,  will  this  Csesar  let  us  be  quiet?  He  carries  us 
from  place  to  place,  and  uses  us  as  if  we  were  not  to  be 
worn  out,  and  had  no  sense  of  labor.  Even  our  iron 
itself  is  spent  by  blows,  and  we  ought  to  have  some  pity 
on  our  bucklers  and  breastplates,  which  have  been  used  so 
long.  Our  wounds,  if  nothing  else,  should  make  him 
see  that  we  are  mortal  men,  whom  he  commands,  subject 
to  the  same  pains  and  sufferings  as  other  human  beings. 
The  very  gods  themselves  cannot  force  the  winter  season, 
or  hinder  the  storms  in  their  time ;  yet  he  pushes  forward, 
as  if  he  were  not  pursuing,  but  flying  from  an  enemy." 
So  they  talked  as  they  marched  leisurely  towards  Brun- 
disium. But  when  they  came  thither,  and  found  Caesar 
gone  off  before  them,  their  feelings  changed,  and  they 
blamed  themselves  as  traitors  to  their  general.  They  now 
railed  at  their  officers  for  marching  so  slowly,  and  plac- 
ing themselves  on  the  heights  overlooking  the  sea  towards 
Epirus,  they  kept  watch  to  see  if  they  could  espy  the 
vessels  which  were  to  transport  them  to  Caesar. 


C^SAR.  291 

He  in  the  mean  time  was  posted  in  Ajjollonia,  but  had 
not  an  army  with  him  able  to  fight  the  enemy,  the  forces 
from  Brundisium  being  so  long  in  coming,  which  put  him 
to  great  suspense  and  embarrassment  what  to  do.  At  last 
he  resolved  upon  a  most  hazardous  experiment,  and  em- 
barked without  any  one's  knowledge,  in  a  boat  of  twelve 
oars,  to  cross  over  to  Brundisium,  though  the  sea  was  at 
that  time  covered  with  a  vast  fleet  of  the  enemies.  He 
got  on  board  in  the  night  time,  in  the  dress  of  a  slave, 
and  throwing  himself  down  like  a  person  of  no  conse- 
quence, lay  along  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel.  The 
river  Anius  ^  was  to  carry  them  dow^n  to  sea,  and  there 
used  to  blow  a  gentle  gale  every  morning  from  the  land, 
which  made  it  calm  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  by  driving 
the  waves  forward;  but  this  niglit  there  had  blown  a 
strong  wind  from  the  sea,  which  overpowered  that  from 
the  land,  so  that  where  the  river  met  the  influx  of  the 
sea-water  and  the  opposition  of  the  waves,  it  was  ex- 
tremely rough  and  angry;  and  the  current  was  beaten 
back  with  such  a  violent  swell,  that  the  master  of  the 
boat  could  not  make  good  his  passage,  but  ordered  his 
sailors  to  tack  about  and  return.  Caesar,  upon  this,  dis- 
covers himself,  and  taking  the  man  by  the  hand,  who  was 
surprised  to  see  him  there,  said,  "  Go  on,  my  friend,  and 
fear  nothing ;  you  carry  Csesar  and  his  fortune  in  your 
boat."  The  mariners,  when  they  heard  that,  forgot  the 
storm,  and  laying  all  their  strength  to  their  oars,  did  what 
they  could  to  force  their  way  down  the  river.  But  when 
it  was  to  no  purpose,  and  the  vessel  now  took  in  much 
water,  Caesar  finding  himself  in  such  danger  in  the  very 
mouth  of  the  river,  much  against  his  will  permitted  the 

i  The  Aous  or  ^as. 


292  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

master  to  turn  back.  When  he  was  come  to  land,  his 
soldiers  ran  to  him  in  a  multitude,  reproaching  him  for 
what  he  had  done,  and  indignant  that  he  should  think 
himself  not  strong  enough  to  get  a  victory  by  their  sole 
assistance,  but  must  disturb  himself,  and  expose  his  life 
for  those  who  were  absent,  as  if  he  could  not  trust  those 
who  were  with  him. 

After  this,  Antony  came  over  with  the  forces  from 
Brundisium,  which  encouraged  Caesar  to  give  Pompey 
battle,  though  he  was  encamped  very  advantageously, 
and  furnished  with  plenty  of  provisions  both  by  sea  and 
land,  whilst  he  himself  was  at  the  beginning  but  ill-sup- 
plied, and  before  the  end  was  extremely  pinched  for 
want  of  necessaries,  so  that  his  soldiers  were  forced  to 
dig  up  a  kind  of  root  which  grew  there,  and  tempering  it 
with  milk,  to  feed  on  it.  Sometimes  they  made  a  kind  of 
bread  of  it,  and  advancing  up  to  the  enemy's  outposts, 
would  throw  in  these  loaves,  telling  them,  that  as  long  as 
the  earth  produced  such  roots  they  would  not  give  up 
blockading  Pompey.  But  Pompey  took  what  care  he 
could  that  neither  the  loaves  nor  the  words  should  reach 
his  men,  who  were  out  of  heart  and  despondent,  through 
terror  at  the  fierceness  and  hardiness  of  their  enemies, 
whom  they  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  wild  beasts.  There 
were  continual  skirmishes  about  Pompey's  outworks,  in 
all  which  Caesar  had  the  better,  except  one,  wlien  his  men 
were  forced  to.  fly  in  such  a  manner  that  he  had  like  to 
have  lost  his  camp.  For  Pompey  made  such  a  vigorous 
sally  on  them  that  not  a  man  stood  his  ground;  the 
trenches  were  filled  with  the  slaughter,  many  fell  upon 
their  own  ramparts  and  bulwarks,  whither  they  were 
driven  in  flight  by  the   enemy.     Caesar  met   them,  and 


C^SAR.  293 

would  have  turned  them  back,  but  could  not.  When  he 
went  to  lay  hold  of  the  ensigns,  those  who  carried  them 
threw  them  down,  so  that  the  enemies  took  thirty-two  of 
them.  He  himself  narrowly  escaped ;  for  taking  hold  of 
one  of  his  soldiers,  a  big  and  strong  man,  that  was  flying 
by  him,  he  bade  him  stand  and  face  about;  but  the  fellow, 
full  of  apprehensions  from  the  danger  he  was  in,  laid  hold 
of  his  sword,  as  if  he  w^ould  strike  Csesar,  but  Caesar's 
armor-bearer  cut  off  his  arm.  Caesar's  affairs  were  so 
desperate  at  that  time,  that  when  Pompey,  either  through 
over-cautiousness,  or  his  ill-fortune,  did  not  give  the  finish- 
ing stroke  to  that  great  success,  but  retreated  after  he 
had  driven  the  routed  enemy  within  their  camp,  Csesar, 
upon  seeing  his  withdrawal,  said  to  his  friends,  "  The  vic- 
tory to-day  had  been  on  the  enemies'  side,  if  they  had 
had  a  general  who  knew  how  to  gain  it."  When  he  was 
retired  into  his  tent,  he  laid  himself  down  to  sleep,  but 
spent  that  night  as  miserably  as  ever  he  did  any,  in  per- 
plexity and  consideration  with  himself,  coming  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  had  conducted  the  war  amiss.  For  when 
he  had  a  fertile  country  before  him,  and  all  the  wealthy 
cities  of  Macedonia  and  Thessaly,  he  had  neglected  to 
carry  the  war  thither,  and  had  sat  down  by  the  seaside, 
where  his  enemies  had  such  a  powerful  fleet,  so  that  he 
was  in  fact  rather  besieged  by  the  want  of  necessaries, 
than  besieging  others  with  his  arms.  Being  thus  dis- 
tracted in  his  thoughts  with  the  view  of  the  difficulty  and 
distress  he  was  in,  he  raised  his  camp,  with  the  intention 
of  advancing  towards  Scipio,  who  lay  in  Macedonia ;  hop- 
ing either  to  entice  Pompey  into  a  country  where  he 
should  fight  without  the  advantage  he  now  had  of  sup- 
plies from  the  sea,  or  to  overpower  Scipio,  if  not  assisted. 


294  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

This  set  all  Pompey's  army  and  officers  on  fire  to  hasten 
and  pursue  Caesar,  whom  they  concluded  to  be  beaten  and 
flying.  But  Pompey  was  afraid  to  hazard  a  battle  on 
which  so  much  depended,  and  being  himself  provided 
with  all  necessaries  for  any  length  of  time,  thought  to 
tire  out  and  waste  the  vigor  of  Caesar's  army,  which  could 
not  last  long;  for  the  best  part  of  his  men,  though  they 
had  great  experience,  and  showed  an  irresistible  courage 
in  all  engagements,  yet  by  their  frequent  marches,  chang- 
ing their  camps,^  attacking  fortifications,  and  keeping  long 
night-watches,  were  getting  worn  out  and  broken;  they 
being  now  old,  their  bodies  less  fit  for  labor,  and  their 
courage,  also,  beginning  to  give  way  with  the  failure  of 
their  strength.  Besides,  it  was  said  that  an  infectious  dis- 
ease, occasioned  by  their  irregular  diet,  was  prevailing  in 
Caesar's  army,  and  what  was  of  greatest  moment,  he  was 
neither  furnished  with  money  nor  provisions,  so  that  in  a 
little  time  he  must  needs  fall  of  himself. 

For  these  reasons  Pompey  had  no  mind  to  fight  him, 
but  was  thanked  for  it  by  none  but  Cato,  who  rejoiced  at 
the  prospect  of  sparing  his  fellow-citizens.  For  he  when 
he  saw  the  dead  bodies  of  those  wlio  had  fallen  in  the 
last  battle  on  Caesar's  side,  to  the  number  of  a  thousand, 
turned  away,  covered  his  face,  and  shed  tears.  But  every 
one  else  upbraided  Pompey  for  being  reluctant  to  fight, 
and  tried  to  goad  him  on  by  such  nicknames  as  Agamem- 
non, and  king  of  kings,  as  if  he  were  in  no  hurry  to  lay 
down  his  sovereign  authority,  but  was  pleased  to  see  so  - 
many  commanders  attending  on  him,   and   paying  their 

1  Or,  perhaps  more  probably,  '*  raising  fortifications,"  which  had  been  very 
much  their  occupation  latterly.  Up  to  this  point  the  campaign  had  been  a 
war  of  intrenchments. 


CiESAR.  295 

attendance  at  his  tent.  Favonius,  who  affected  Cato's 
free  way  of  speaking  his  mind,  complained  bitterly  that 
they  should  eat  no  figs  even  this  year  at  Tusculum, 
because  of  Pompey's  love  of  command.  Afranius,  who 
was  lately  returned  out  of  Spain,  and  on  account  of  his  ill 
success  there,  labored  under  the  suspicion  of  having  been 
bribed  to  betray  the  army,  asked  why  they  did  not  fight 
this  purchaser  of  provinces.  Pompey  was  driven,  against 
his  own  will,  by  this  kind  of  language,  into  offering  battle, 
and  proceeded  to  follow  Csesar.  Gsesar  had  found  great 
difficulties  in  his  march,  for  no  country  would  supply  him 
with  provisions,  his  reputation  being  very  much  fallen 
since  his  late  defeat.  But  after  he  took  Gomphi,  a  town 
of  Thessaly,  he  not  only  found  provisions  for  his  army, 
but  physic  too ;  for  there  they  met  with  plenty  of  wine, 
which  they  took  very  freely,  and  heated  with  this,  sport- 
ing and  revelling  on  their  march  in  bacchanalian  fashion, 
they  shook  off  the  disease,  and  their  whole  constitution 
was  relieved  and  changed  into  another  habit. 

When  the  two  armies  were  come  into  Pharsalia,  and 
both  encamped  there,  Pompey's  thoughts  ran  the  same 
way  as  they  had  done  before,  against  fighting,  and  the 
more  because  of  some  unlucky  presages,  and  a  vision  he 
had  in  a  dream.  But  those  who  were  about  him  were 
so  confident  of  success,  that  Domitius,  and  Spinther,  and 
Scipio,  as  if  they  had  already  conquered,  quarrelled  which 
should  succeed  Csesar  in  the  pontificate.  And  many  sent 
to  Rome  to  take  houses  fit  to  accommodate  consuls  and 
praetors,  as  being  sure  of  entering  upon  those  offices  as 
soon  as  the  battle  was  over.  The  cavalry  especially  were 
obstinate  for  fighting,  being  splendidly  armed  and  bravely 
,  mounted,  and  valuing  themselves  upon  the  fine   horses 


296  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

they  kept,  and  upon  their  own  handsome  persons ;  as  also 
upon  the  advantage  of  their  numbers,  for  they  were  five 
thousand  against  one  thousand  of  Caesar's.  Nor  were  the 
numbers  of  the  infantry  less  disproportionate,  there  being 
forty-five  thousand  of  Pompey's,  against  twenty-two  thou- 
sand of  the  enemy. 

Caesar,  collecting  his  soldiers  together,  told  them  that 
Corfinius  was  coming  up  to  them  with  two  legions,  and 
that  fifteen  cohorts  more  under  Calenus  were  posted  at 
Megara  and  Athens;  he  then  asked  them  whether  they 
would  stay  till  these  joined  them,  or  would  hazard  the 
battle  by  themselves.  They  all  cried  out  to  him  not  to 
wait,  but  on  the  contrary  to  do  whatever  he  could  to  bring 
about  an  engagement  as  soon  as  possible.  When  he  sacri- 
ficed to  the  gods  for  the  lustration  of  his  army,  upon 
the  death  of  the  first  victim,  the  augur  told  him,  within 
three  days  he  should  come  to  a  decisive  action.  Caesar 
asked  him  whether  he  saw  anything  in  the  entrails,  which 
promised  an  happy  event.  "That,"  said  the  priest,  "you 
can  best  answer  yourself;  for  the  gods  signify  a  great 
alteration  from  the  present  posture  of  affairs.  If,  there- 
fore, you  think  yourself  well  off  now,  expect  worse  for- 
tune; if  unhappy,  hope  for  better."  The  night  before 
the  battle,  as  he  walked  the  rounds  about  midnight,  there 
was  a  light  seen  in  the  heaven,  very  bright  and  flaming, 
which  seemed  to  pass  over  Caesar's  camp,  and  fall  into 
Pompey's.  And  when  Caesar's  soldiers  came  to  relieve 
the  watch  in  the  morning,  they  perceived  a  panic  disor- 
der among  the  enemies.  However,  he  did  not  expect  to 
fight  that  day,  but  set  about  raising  his  camp  with  the 
intention  of  marching  towards  Scotussa. 
Lustration :  purification. 


C^SAR.  297 

But  when  the  tents  were  now  taken  down,  his  scouts, 
rode  up  to  him,  and  told  him  the  enemy  would  give  him 
battle.  With  this  news  he  was  extremely  pleased,  and 
having  performed  his  devotions  to  the  gods,  set  his  army 
in  battle  array,  dividing  them  into  three  bodies.  Over  the 
middlemost  he  placed  Domitius  Calvinus ;  Antony  com- 
manded the  left  wing,  and  he  himself  the  right,  being 
resolved  to  fight  at  the  head  of  the  tenth  legion.  But 
when  he  saw  the  enemies'  cavalry  taking  position  against 
him,  being  struck  with  their  fine  appearance  and  their 
number,  he  gave  private  orders  that  six  cohorts  from  the 
rear  of  the  army  should  come  round  and  join  him,  whom 
he  posted  behind  the  right  wing,  and  instructed  them 
what  they  should  do,  when  the  enemy's  horse  came  to 
charge.  On  the  other  side,  Pompey  commanded  the  right 
wing,  Domitius  the  left,  and  Scipio,  Pompey's  father-in- 
law,  the  centre.  The  whole  weight  of  the  cavalry  was 
collected  on  the  left  wing,  with  the  intent  that  they 
should  outflank  the  right  wing  of  the  engmy,  and  rout 
that  part  where  the  general  himself  commanded.  For 
they  thought  no  phalanx  of  infantry  could  be  solid  enough 
to  sustain  such  a  shock,  but  that  they  must  necessarily  be 
broken  and  shattered  all  to  pieces  upon  the  onset  of  so 
immense  a  force  of  cavalry.  When  they  were  ready  on 
both  sides  to  give  the  signal  for  battle,  Pompey  com- 
manded his  foot  who  were  in  the  front,  to  stand  their 
ground,  and  without  breaking  their  order,  receive  quietly 
the  enemy's  first  attack,  till  they  came  within  javelin's  cast. 
Csesar,  in  this  respect,  also,  blames  Pompey's  generalship, 
as  if  he  had  not  been  aware  how  the  first  encounter, 
when  made  with  an  impetus  and  upon  the  run,  gives 
weight    and   force   to   the   strokes,   and   fires   the   men's 


298  PLUTARCH^S   LIVES. 

spirits  into  a  flame,  which  the  general  concurrence  fans 
to  full  heat.  He  himself  was  just  putting  the  troops  into 
motion  and  advancing  to  the  action,  when  he  found  one 
of  his  captains,  a  trusty  and  experienced  soldier,  encour- 
aging his  men  to  exert  their  utmost.  Csesar  called  him 
by  his  name,  and  said,  "What  hopes,  Caius  Crassinius, 
and  what  grounds  for  encouragement?"  Crassinius 
stretched  out  his  hand,  and  cried  in  a  loud  voice,  "We 
shall  conquer  nobly,  Csesar ;  and  I  this  day  will  deserve 
your  praises,  either  alive  or  dead."  So  he  said,  and  was 
the  first  man  to  run  in  upon  the  enemy,  followed  by  the 
hundred  and  twenty  soldiers  about  him,  and  breaking 
through  the  first  rank,  still  pressed  on  forwards  with 
much  slaughter  of  the  enemy,  till  at  last  he  was  struck 
back  by  the  wound  of  a  sword,  which  went  in  at  his 
mouth  with  such  force  that  it  came  out  at  his  neck 
behind. 

Whilst  the  foot  was  thus  sharply  engaged  in  the  main 
battle,  on  tha  flank  Pompey's  horse  rode  up  confidently, 
and  opened  their  ranks  very  wide,  that  they  might  sur- 
round the  right  wing  of  Csesar.  But  before  they  engaged, 
Caesar's  cohorts  rushed  out  and  attacked  them,  and  did 
not  dart  their  javelins  at  a  distance,  nor  strike  at  the 
thighs  and  legs,  as  they  usually  did  in  close  battle,  but 
aimed  at  their  faces.  For  thus  Csesar  had  instructed 
them,  in  hopes  that  young  gentlemen,  who  had  not  known 
much  of  battles  and  wounds,  but  came  wearing  their  hair 
long,  in  the  flower  of  their  age  and  height  of  their  beauty, 
would  be  more  apprehensive  of  such  blows,  and  not  care 
for  hazarding  both  a  danger  at  present  and  a  blemish  for 
the  future.  And  so  it  proved,  for  they  were  so  far  from 
bearing  the  stroke  of  the  javelins,  that  they  could  not 


CiESAR.  299 

stand  the  sight  of  them,  but  turned  about,  and  covered 
their  faces  to  secure  them.  Once  in  disorder,  presently 
they  turned  about  to  fly ;  and  so  most  shamefully  ruined  all. 
For  those  who  had  beat  them  back,  at  once  outflanked  the 
infantry,  and  falling  on  their  rear,  cut  them  to  pieces. 
Pompey,  who  commanded  the  other  wing  of  the  army, 
when  he  saw  his  cavalry  thus  broken  and  flying,  was  no 
longer  himself,  nor  did  he  now  remember  that  he  was 
Pompey  the  Great,  but  like  one  whom  some  god  had 
deprived  of  his  senses,  retired  to  his  tent  without  speaking 
a  word,  and  there  sat  to  expect  the  event,  till  the  whole 
army  was  routed,  and  the  enemy  appeared  upon  the 
works  which  were  thrown  up  before  the  camp,  where  they 
closely  engaged  with  his  men,  who  were  posted  there 
to  defend  it.  Then  first  he  seemed  to  have  recovered  his 
senses,  and  uttering,  it  is  said,  only  these  words,  "  What, 
into  the  camp  too  ?  "  he  laid  aside  his  general's  habit,  and 
putting  on  such  clothes  as  might  best  favor  his  flight, 
stole  off.  What  fortune  he  met  with  afterwards,  how  he 
took  shelter  in  Egypt,  and  was  murdered  there,  we  tell 
3'Ou  in  his  Life. 

Caesar,  when  he  came  to  view  Pompey's  camp,  and  saw 
some  of  his  opponents  dead  upon  the  ground,  others  dying, 
said,  with  a  groan,  "This  they  would  have;  they  brought 
me  to  this  necessity.  I,  Caius  Csesar,  after  succeeding  in 
so  many  wars,  had  been  condemned,  had  I  dismissed  my 
army."  These  words,  Pollio  says,  Caesar  spoke  in  Latin 
at  that  time,  and  that  he  himself  wrote  them  in  Greek; 
adding,  that  those  who  were  killed  at  the  taking  of  the 
camp,  were  most  of  them  servants ;  and  that  not  above 
six  thousand  soldiers  fell.  Caesar  incorporated  most  of 
the  foot  whom  he  took  prisoners,  with  his  own  legions. 


300  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

and  gave  a  free  pardon  to  many  of  the  distinguished  per- 
sons, and  amongst  the  rest,  to  Brutus,  who  afterwards 
killed  him.  He  did  not  immediately  appear  after  the 
battle  was  over,  which  put  Caesar,  it  is  said,  into  great 
anxiety  for  him ;  nor  was  his  pleasure  less  when  he  saw 
him  present  himself  alive. 

Caesar,  as  a  memorial  of  his  victory,  gave  the  Thessa- 
lians  their  freedom,  and  then  went  in  pursuit  of  Pompey. 
When  he  was  come  into  Asia,  to  gratify  Theopompus, 
the  author  of  the  collection  of  fables,  he  enfranchised  the 
Cnidians,  and  remitted  one-third  of  their  tribute  to  all  the 
people  of  the  province  of  Asia.  When  he  came  to  Alex- 
andria, where  Pompey  was  already  murdered,  he  would 
not  look  upon  Theodotus,  who  presented  him  with  his 
head,  but  taking  only  his  signet,  shed  tears.  Those  of 
Pompey's  friends  who  had  been  arrested  by  the  king  of 
Egypt,  as  they  were  wandering  in  those  parts,  he  relieved, 
and  offered  them  his  own  friendship.  In  his  letter  to  his 
friends  at  Rome,  he  told  them  that  the  greatest  and  most 
signal  pleasure  his  victory  had  given  him  was  to  be  able 
continually  to  save  the  lives  of  fellow-citizens  who  had 
fought  against  him.  As  to  the  war  in  Egypt,  some  say  it 
was  at  once  dangerous,  and  dishonorable,  and  noways  nec- 
essary, but  occasioned  only  by  his  passion  for  Cleopatra. 
Others  blame  the  ministers  of  the  king,  and  especially 
Pothinus,  who  was  the  chief  favorite,  and  had  lately  killed 
Pompey,  who  had  banished  Cleopatra,  and  was  now  secretly 
plotting  Caesar's  destruction  (to  prevent  which,  Caesar  from 
that  time  began  to  sit  up  whole  nights,  under  pretence  of 
drinking,  for  the  security  of  his  person),  while  openly  he 
was  intolerable  in  his  affronts  to  Caesar,  both  by  his  words 
and  actions.     For  when  Caesar's   soldiers  had  musty  and 


C^SAR.  301 

unwholesome  corn  measured  out  to  them,  Pothinus  told 
them  they  must  be  content  with  it,  since  they  were  fed  at 
another's  cost.  He  ordered  that  his  table  should  be  served 
with  wooden  and  earthen  dishes,  and  said  Caesar  had  car- 
ried off  all  the  gold  and  silver  plate,  under  pretence  of 
arrears  of  debt.  For  the  present  king's  father  owed  Caesar 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  myriads^  of  money; 
Caesar  had  formerly  remitted  to  his  children  the  rest,  but 
thought  fit  to  demand  the  thousand  myriads  ^  at  that  time, 
to  maintain  his  army.  Pothinus  told  him  that  he  had  bet- 
ter go  now  and  attend  to  his  other  affairs  of  greater  conse- 
quence, and  that  he  should  receive  his  money  at  another 
time  with  thanks.  Caesar  replied  that  he  did  not  want 
Egyptians  to  be  his  counsellors,  and  soon  after  privately 
sent  for  Cleopatra  from  her  retirement. 

She  took  a  small  boat,  and  one  only  of  her  confidants, 
ApoUodorus,  the  Sicilian,  along  with  her,  and  in  the  dusk 
of  the  evening  landed  near  the  palace.  She  was  at  a  loss 
how  to  get  in  undiscovered,  till  she  thought  of  putting 
herself  into  the  coverlet  of  a  bed  and  lying  at  length, 
whilst  ApoUodorus  tied  up  the  bedding  and  carried  it  on 
his  back  through  the  gates  to  Caesar's  apartment.  Caesar 
was  first  captivated  by  this  proof  of  Cleopatra's  bold  wit, 
and  was  afterwards  so  overcome  by  the  charm  of  her 
society,  that  he  made  a  reconciliation  between  her  and  her 
brother,  on  condition  that  she  should  rule  as  his  colleague 
in  the  kingdom.  A  festival  was  kept  to  celebrate  this 
reconciliation,  where  Caesar's  barber,  a  busy,  listening  fel- 
low, whose  excessive  timidity  made  him  inquisitive  into 
everything,  discovered  that  there  was  a  plot  carrying  on 

iAboutS3,150,000jj        1^^^^^^ 
2  About  $1,800,000  ) 


302  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

against  Caesar  by  Achillas,  general  of  the  king's  forces, 
and  Pothinus.  Csesar,  upon  the  first  intelligence  of  it, 
set  a  guard  upon  the  hall  where  the  feast  was  kept,  and 
killed  Pothinus.  Achillas  escaped  to  the  army,  and  raised 
a  troublesome  and  embarrassing  war  against  Caesar,  which 
it  was  not  easy  for  him  to  manage  with  his  few  soldiers 
against  so  powerful  a  city  and  so  large  an  army.  The  first 
difficulty  he  met  with  was  want  of  water,  for  the  enemies 
had  turned  the  canals.^  Another  was,  when  the  enemy 
endeavored  to  cut  off  his  communication  by  sea,  he  was 
forced  to  divert  that  danger  by  setting  fire  to  his  own 
ships,  which,  after  burning  the  docks,  thence  spread  on  and 
destroyed  the  great  library.  A  third  was,  when  in  an 
engagement  near  Pharos,  he  leaped  from  the  mole  into  a 
small  boat  to  assist  his  soldiers  who  were  in  danger,  and 
when  the  Egyptians  pressed  him  on  every  side,  he  threw 
himself  into  the  sea,  and  with  much  difficulty  swam  off. 
This  was  the  time  when,  according  to  the  story,  he  had  a 
number  of  manuscripts  in  his  hand,  which,  though  he  was 
continually  darted  at,  and  forced  to  keep  his  head  often 
under  water,  yet  he  did  not  let  go,  but  held  them  up  safe 
from  wetting  in  one  hand,  whilst  he  swam  with  the  other. 
His  boat,  in  the  mean  time,  was  quickly  sunk.  At  last,  the 
king  having  gone  off  to  Achillas  and  his  party,  Caesar 
engaged  and  conquered  them.  Many  fell  in  that  battle, 
and  the  king  himself  was  never  seen  after.  Upon  this, 
he  left  Cleopatra  queen  of  Egypt,  and  then  departed  for 
Syria.  r^-^ 

Thence  he  passed  to  Asia,  where  he  heard  that  Domi- 
tius  was  beaten  by  Pharnaces,  son  of  Mithridates,  and  had 
fled  out  of  Pontus  with  a  handful  of  men ;  and  that  Phar- 

1  By  which  Alexandria,  there  being  no  springs,  was  wliolly  supplied. 


C^SAR.  303 

naces  pursued  the  victory  so  eagerly,  that  though  he  was 
already  master  of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia,  he  had  a  fur- 
ther design  of  attempting  the  Lesser  Armenia,  and  was 
inviting  all  the  kings  and  tetrarchs  there  to  rise.  Caesar 
immediately  marched  against  him  with  three  legions,  fought 
him  near  Zela,  drove  him  out  of  Pontus,  and  totally  de- 
feated his  army.  When  he  gave  Amantius,  a  friend  of 
his  at  Rome,  an  account  of  this  action,  to  express  the 
promptness  and  rapidity  of  it,  he  used  three  words,  I  came, 
saw,  and  conquered,  which  in  Latin  ^  having  all  the  same 
cadence,  carry  with  them  a  very  suitable  air  of  brevity. 

Hence  he  crossed  into  Italy,  and  came  to  Rome  at  the 
end  of  that  year,  for  which  he  had  been  a  second  time 
chosen  dictator,  though  that  office  had  never  before  lasted 
a  whole  year,  and  was  elected  consul  for  the  next.  He 
was  ill  spoken  of,  because  upon  a  mutiny  of  some  soldiers, 
who  killed  Cosconius  and  Galba,  who  had  been  praetors, 
he  gave  them  only  the  slight  reprimand  of  calling  them 
Citizens  instead  of  Fellow-Soldiers^  and  afterwards  assigned 
to  each  man  a  thousand  drachmas,  besides  a  share  of  lands 
in  Italy.  He  was  also  reflected  on  for  Dolabella's  extrava- 
gance, Amantius'  covetousness,  Antony's  debauchery,  and 
Corfinius'  profuseness,  who  pulled  down  Pompey's  house, 
and  rebuilt  it,  as  not  magnificent  enough ;  for  the  Romans 
were  much  displeased  with  all  these.  But  Caesar,  for  the 
prosecution  of  his  own  scheme  of  government,  though  he 
knew  their  characters  and  disapproved  them,  was  forced 
to  make  use  of  those  who  would  serve  him. 

After  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  Cato  and  Scipio  fled  into 

Tetrarch  :  a  governor  of  a  fourth  part  of  a  province. 

1  Veni,  Vidi,  Vici.  A  tablet  with  this  inscription  was  displayed  in  the 
triumph  which  was  afterwards  celebrated  for  this  war. 


304  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

Africa,  and  there,  with  the  assistance  of  king  Juba,  got 
together  a  considerable  force,  which  Caesar  resolved  to 
engage.  He,  accordingly,  passed  into  Sicily  about  the  win- 
ter-solstice, and  to  remove  from  his  officers'  minds  all  hopes 
of  delay  there,  encamped  by  the  sea-shore,  and  as  soon  as 
ever  he  had  a  fair  wind,  put  to  sea  with  three  thousand 
foot  and  a  few  horse.  When  he  had  landed  tliem,  he  went 
back  secretly,  under  some  apprehensions  for  the  larger  part 
of  his  army,  but  met  them  upon  the  sea,  and  brought  them 
all  to  the  same  camp.  There  he  was  informed  that  the 
enemies  relied  much  upon  an  ancient  oracle,  that  the 
family  of  the  Scipios  should  be  always  victorious  in  Africa. 
There  was  in  his  army  a  man,  otherwise  mean  and  con- 
temptible, but  of  the  house  of  the  Africani,  and  his  name 
Scipio  Sallutio.  This  man  Csesar  (whether  in  raillery,  to 
ridicule  Scipio,  who  commanded  the  enemy,  or  seriously, 
to  bring  over  the  omen  to  his  side,  it  were  hard  to  say) 
put  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  as  if  he  were  general  in  all 
the  frequent  battles  which  he  was  compelled  to  fight.  For 
he  was  in  such  want  both  of  victualling  for  his  men,  and 
forage  for  his  horses,  that  he  was  forced  to  feed  the  horses 
with  sea-weed,  which  he  washed  thoroughly  to  take  off  its 
saltness,  and  mixed  with  a  little  grass,  to  give  it  a  more 
agreeable  taste.  The  Numidians,  in  great  numbers,  and 
well  horsed,  whenever  he  went,  came  up  and  commanded 
the  country.  Caesar's  cavalry  being  one  day  unemployed, 
diverted  themselves  with  seeing  an  African,  who  enter- 
tained them  with  dancing  and  at  the  same  time  playing 
upon  the  pipe  to  admiration.  They  were  so  taken  with 
this,  that  they  alighted,  and  gave  their  horses  to  some  boys, 
when  on  a  sudden  the  enemy  surrounded  them,  killed 
some,  pursued  the  rest,  and  fell  in  with  them  into  their 


CiESAR.  305 

camp ;  and  had  not  Csesar  himself  and  Asinius  PoUio  come 
to  their  assistance,  and  put  a  stop  to  their  flight,  the  war 
had  been  then  at  an  end.  In  another  engagement,  also, 
the  enemy  had  again  the  better,  when  Caesar,  it  is  said, 
seized  a  standard-bearer,  who  was  running  away,  by  the 
neck,  and  forcing  him  to  face  about,  said,  "  Look,  that  is 
the  way  to  the  enemy." 

Scipio,  flushed  with  this  success  at  first,  had  a  mind  to 
come  to  one  decisive  action.  He  therefore  left  Afranius 
and  Juba  in  two  distinct  bodies  not  far  distant,  and 
marched  himself  towards  Thapsus,  where  he  proceeded  to 
build  a  fortified  camp  above  a  lake,  to  serve  as  a  centre- 
point  for  their  operations,  and  also  as  a  place  of  refuge. 
Whilst  Scipio  was  thus  employed,  Caesar  with  incredible 
despatch  made  his  way  through  thick  woods,  and  a  country 
supposed  to  be  impassable,  cut  off  one  party  of  the  enemy, 
and  attacked  another  in  the  front.  Having  routed  these, 
he  followed  up  his  opportunity  and  the  current  of  his  good 
fortune,  and  on  the  first  onset  carried  Afranius'  camp, 
and  ravaged  that  of  the  Numidians,  Juba,  their  king,  being 
glad  to  save  himself  by  flight ;  so  that  in  a  small  part  of  a 
single  day  he  made  himself  master  of  three  camps,  and 
killed  fifty  thousand  of  the  enemy,  with  the  loss  only  of 
fifty  of  his  own  men.  This  is  the  account  some  give  of 
that  fight.  Others  say,  he  was  not  in  the  action,  but  that 
he  was  taken  with  his  usual  distemper  just  as  he  was 
setting  his  army  in  order.  He  perceived  the  approaches 
of  it,  and  before  it  had  too  far  disordered  his  senses,  when 
he  was  already  beginning  to  shake  under  its  influence, 
withdrew  into  a  neighboring  fort,  where  he  reposed  him- 
self. Of  the  men  of  consular  and  praetorian  dignity  that 
were  taken  after  the  fight,  Caesar  put  several  to  death, 
others  anticipated  him  by  killing  themselves. 


306  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

Cato  had  undertaken  to  defend  Utica,  and  for  that  reason 
was  not  in  the  battle.  The  desire  which  Caesar  had  to 
take  him  alive,  made  him  hasten  thither;  and  upon  the 
intelligence  that  he  had  dispatched  himself,  he  was  much 
discomposed,  for  what  reason  is  not  so  well  agreed.  He 
certainly  said,  "  Cato,  I  must  grudge  you  your  death,  as 
you  grudged  me  the  honor  of  saving  your  life."  Yet  the 
discourse  he  wrote  against  Cato  after  his  death,  is  no  great 
sign  of  his  kindness,  or  that  he  was  inclined  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  him.  For  how  is  it  probable  that  he  would  have 
been  tender  of  his  life,  when  he  was  so  bitter  against  his 
memory?  But  from  his  clemency  to  Cicero,  Brutus,  and 
many  others  who  fought  against  him,  it  may  be  divined 
that  Caesar's  book  was  not  written  so  much  out  of 
animosity  to  Cato,  as  in  his  own  vindication.  Cicero  had 
written  an  encomium  upon  Cato,  and  called  it  by  his 
name.  A  composition  by  so  great  a  master  upon  so  excel- 
lent a  subject,  was  sure  to  be  in  every  one's  hands.  This 
touched  Caesar,  who  looked  upon  a  panegyric  on  his 
enemy,  as  no  better  than  an  invective  against  himself ;  and 
therefore  he  made  in  his  Anti-Cato,  a  collection  of  what- 
ever could  be  said  in  his  derogation.  The  two  composi- 
tions, like  Cato  and  Caesar  themselves,  have  each  of  them 
their  several  admirers. 

Caesar,  upon  his  return  to  Rome,  did  not  omit  to  pro- 
nounce before  the  people  a  magnificent  account  of  his 
victory,  telling  them  that  he  had  subdued  a  country  which 
would  supply  the  public  every  year  with  two  hundred 
thousand  attic  bushels  of  corn,  and  three  million  pounds 
weight  of  oil.  He  then  led  three  triumphs  for  Egypt, 
Pontus,  and  Africa,  the  last  for  the  victory  over,  not 
Scipio,  but  king  Juba,  as  it  was  professed,  whose  little  son 


CuESAR.  307 

was  then  carried  in  the  triumph,  the  happiest  captive  that 
ever  was,  who  of  a  barbarian  Namidian,  came  by  this 
means  to  obtain  a  place  among  the  most  learned  historians 
of  Greece.  After  the  triumphs,  he  distributed  rewards  to 
his  soldiers,  and  treated  the  people  with  feasting  and 
shows.  He  entertained  the  whole  people  together  at  one 
feast,  where  twenty-two  thousand  dining  couches  were 
laid  out ;  and  he  made  a  display  of  gladiators,  and  of  bat- 
tles by  sea,  in  honor,  as  he  said,  of  his  daughter  Julia, 
though  she  had  been  long  since  dead.  When  these  shows 
were  over,  an  account  was  taken  of  the  people,  who  from 
three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand,  were  now  reduced  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  So  great  a  waste  had 
the  civil  war  made  in  Rome  alone,  not  to  mention  what 
the  other  parts  of  Italy  and  the  provinces  suffered. 

He  was  now  chosen  a  fourth  time  consul,  and  went  into 
Spain  against  Pompey's  sons.  They  were  but  young,  yet 
had  gathered  together  a  very  numerous  army,  and  showed 
;»they  had  courage  and  conduct  to  command  it,  so  that 
Caesar  was  in  extreme  danger.  The  great  battle  was  near 
the  town  of  Munda,  in  which  Ca3sar  seeing  his  men  hard 
pressed,  and  making  but  a  weak  resistance,  ran  through 
the  ranks  among  the  soldiers,  and  crying  out,  asked  them 
whether  they  were  not  ashamed  to  deliver  him  into  the 
hands  of  boys  ?  At  last,  with  great  difficulty,  and  the  best 
efforts  he  could  make,  he  forced  back  the  enemy,  killing 
thirty  thousand  of  them,  though  with  the  loss  of  one 
thousand  of  his  best  men.  When  he  came  back  from  the 
fight,  he  told  his  friends  that  he  had  often  fought  for 
victory,  but  this  was  the  first  time  that  he  had  ever  fought 
for  life.  This  battle  was  won  on  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  the 
very  day  in  which  Pompey,  four  years  before,  had  set  out 


308  TLUTAKCH'S  LIVES. 

for  the  war.  The  younger  of  Pompey's  sons  escaped ;  but 
Didius,  some  days  after  the  fight,  brought  the  head  of  the 
elder  to  Caesar.  This  was  the  last  war  he  was  engaged  in. 
The  triumph  which  he  celebrated  for  this  victory,  dis- 
pleased the  Romans  beyond  anything.  For  he  had  not 
defeated  foreign  generals,  or  barbarian  kings,  but  had 
destroyed  the  children  and  family  of  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  Rome,  though  unfortunate;  and  it  did  not  look 
well  to  lead  a  procession  in  celebration  of  the  calamities 
of  his  country,  and  to  rejoice  in  those  things  for  which  no 
other  apology  could  be  made  either  to  gods  or  men,  than 
their  being  absolutely  necessary.  Besides  that,  hitherto 
he  had  never  sent  letters  or  messengers  to  announce  any 
victory  over  his  fellow-citizens,  but  had  seemed  rather  to 
be  ashamed  of  the  action,  than  to  expect  honor  from  it. 

Nevertheless  his  countrymen,  conceding  all  to  his  for- 
tune, and  accepting  the  bit,  in  the  hope  that  the  govern- 
ment of  a  single  person  would  give  them  time  to  breathe 
after  so  many  civil  wars  and  calamities,  made  him  dictator 
for  life.  This  was  indeed  a  tyranny  avowed,  since  his 
power  now  was  not  only  absolute,  but  perpetual  too. 
Cicero  made  the  first  proposals  to  the  senate  for  confer- 
ring honors  upon  him,  which  might  in  some  sort  be  said 
not  to  exceed  the  limits  of  ordinary  human  moderation. 
But  others,  striving  which  should  deserve  most,  carried 
them  so  excessively  high,  that  they  made  Caesar  odious  to 
the  most  indifferent  and  moderate  sort  of  men,  by  the  pre- 
tension and  the  extravagance  of  the  titles  which  they 
decreed  him.  His  enemies,  too,  are  thought  to  have  had 
some  share  in  this,  as  well  as  his  flatterers.  It  gave  them 
advantage  against  him,  and  would  be  their  justification 
for  any  attempt  they  should  make  upon  him;    for  since 


C^SAR.  309 

the  civil  wars  were  ended,  he  had  nothing  else  that  he 
could  be  charged  with.  And  they  had  good  reason  to  de- 
cree a  temple  to  Clemency,  in  token  of  their  thanks  for 
the  mild  use  he  made  of  his  victory.  For  he  not  only  par- 
doned many  of  those  who  fought  against  him,  but,  further, 
to  some  gave  honors  and  offices ;  as  particularly  to  Brutus 
and  Cassius,  who  both  of  them  were  prsetors.  Pompey's 
images  that  were  thrown  down,  he  set  up  again,  upon 
which  Cicero  also  said  that  by  raising  Pompey's  statues 
he  had  fixed  his  own.  When  his  friends  advised  him  to 
have  a  guard,  and  several  offered  their  service,  he  would 
not  hear  of  it ;  but  said  it  was  better  to  suffer  death  once, 
than  always  to  live  in  fear  of  it.  He  looked  upon  the 
•affections  of  the  people  to  be  the  best  and  surest  guard, 
and  entertained  them  again  with  public  feasting,  and  gen- 
eral distributions  of  corn  ;  and  to  gratify  his  army,  he  sent 
out  colonies  to  several  places,  of  which  the  most  remark- 
able were  Carthage  and  Corinth;  which,  as  before  they 
had  been  ruined  at  the  same  time,  so  now  were  restored 
and  repeopled  together. 

As  for  the  men  of  high  rank,  he  promised  to  some  of 
them  future  consulships  and  praetorships,  some  he  consoled 
with  other  offices  and  honors,  and  to  all  held  out  hopes  of 
favor  by  the  solicitude  he  showed  to  rule  with  the  general 
good-will ;  insomuch  that  upon  the  death  of  Maximus  one 
day  before  his  consulship  was  ended,  he  made  Caninius 
Revilius  consul  for  that  day.  And  when  many  went  to 
pay  the  usual  compliments  and  attentions  to  the  new  con- 
sul, "  Let  us  make  haste,"  said  Cicero,  "  lest  the  man  be 
gone  out  of  his  office  before  we  come." 

Caesar  was  born  to  do  great  things,  and  had  a  passion  after 
honor,  and  the  many  noble  exploits  he  had  done  did  not 


310  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

now  serve  as  an  inducement  to  him  to  sit  still  and  reap 
the  fruit  of  his  past  labors,  but  were  incentives  and  en- 
couragements to  go  on,  and  raised  in  him  ideas  of  still 
greater  actions,  and  a  desire  of  new  glory,  as  if  the  present 
were  all  spent.  It  was  in  fact  a  sort  of  emulous  struggle 
with  himself,  as  it  had  been  with  another,  how  he  might 
outdo  his  past  actions  by  his  future.  In  pursuit  of  these 
thoughts,  he  resolved  to  make  war  upon  the  Parthians,  and 
when  he  had  subdued  them,  to  pass  through  Hyrcania ; 
thence  to  march  along  by  the  Caspian  Sea  to  Mount  Cau- 
casus, and  so  on  about  Pontus,  till  he  came  into  Scythia ; 
then  to  overrun  all  the  countries  bordering  upon  Germany, 
and  Germany  itself;  and  so  to  return  through  Gaul  into 
Italy,  after  completing  the  whole  circle  of  his  intended 
empire,  and  bounding  it  on  every  side  by  the  ocean. 
While  preparations  were  making  for  this  expedition,  he 
proposed  to  dig  through  the  isthmus  on  which  Corinth 
stands ;  and  appointed  Anienus  to  superintend  the  work. 
He  had  also  a  design  of  diverting  the  Tiber,  and  carrying 
it  by  a  deep  channel  directly  from  Rome  to  Circeii,  and 
so  into  the  sea  near  Tarracina,  that  there  might  be  a  safe 
and  easy  passage  for  all  merchants  who  traded  to  Rome. 
Besides  this,  he  intended  to  drain  all  the  marshes  by  Po- 
mentium  and  Setia,  and  gain  ground  enough  from  the 
water  to  employ  many  thousands  of  men  in  tillage.  He 
proposed  further  to  make  great  mounds  on  the  shore  near- 
est Rome,  to  hinder  the  sea  from  breaking  in  upon  the 
land,  to  clear  the  coast  at  Ostia  of  all  the  hidden  rocks  and 
shoals  that  made  it  unsafe  for  shipping,  and  to  form  ports 
and  harbors  fit  to  receive  the  large  number  of  vessels  that 
would  frequent  them.  -^V        1 

Caesar  also  formed  a  new  and  more  exact  method  of  cor^- 


C^SAR.  811 

recting  the  calendar,  which  the  Romans  use  to  this  day. 
Yet  even  this  gave  offence  to  those  who  looked  with  an 
evil  eye  on  his  position,  and  felt  oppressed  by  his  power. 
Cicero,  the  orator,  when  some  one  in  his  company  chanced 
to  say,  the  next  morning  Lyra  would  rise,  replied,  "  Yes, 
in  accordance  with  the  edict,"  as  if  even  this  were  a  matter 
of  compulsion. 

But  that  which  brought  upon  him  the  most  apparent 
and  mortal  hatred,  was  his  desire  of  being  king;  which 
gave  the  common  people  the  first  occasion  to  quarrel  with 
him,  and  proved  the  most  specious  pretence  to  those  who 
had  been  his  secret  enemies  all  along.  Those  who  would 
have  procured  him  that  title,  gave  it  out,  that  it  was  fore- 
told in  the  Sybils'  books  that  the  Romans  should  conquer 
the  Parthians  when  they  fought  against  them  under  the 
conduct  of  a  king,  but  not  before.  And  one  day,  as  Csesar 
was  coming  down  from  Alba  to  Rome,  some  were  so  bold 
as  to  salute  him  by  the  name  of  king ;  but  he  finding  the 
people  disrelish  it,  seemed  to  resent  it  himself,  and  said 
his  name  was  Caesar,  not  king.  Upon  this,  there  was  a 
general  silence,  and  he  passed  on  looking  not  very  well 
pleased  or  contented.  Another  time,  when  the  senate  had 
conferred  on  him  some  extravagant  honors,  he  chanced  to 
receive  the  message  as  he  was  sitting  on  the  rostra,  where, 
though  the  consuls  and  prsetors  themselves  waited  on  him, 
attended  by  the  whole  body  of  the  senate,  he  did  not  rise, 
but  behaved  himself  to  them  as  if  they  had  been  private 
men,  and  told  them  his  honors  wanted  rather  to  be  re- 
trenched than  increased.  This  treatment  offended  not 
only  the  senate,  but  the  commonalty  too,  as  if  they  thought 
the  affront  upon  the   senate   equally  reflected  upon  the 

Lyra :  the  constellation. 

Rostra  :  a  platform  or  elevated  place  in  the  forum. 


312  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

whole  republic  ;  so  that  all  who  could  decently  leave  him 
went  off,  looking  much  discomposed.  Caesar,  perceiving 
the  false  step  he  had  made,  immediately  retired  home ;  and 
laying  his  throat  bare,  told  his  friends  that  he  was  ready 
to  offer  this  to  any  one  who  would  give  the  stroke.  But 
afterwards  he  made  the  malady  from  which  he  suffered, 
the  excuse  for  his  sitting,  saying  that  those  who  are  at- 
tacked by  it,  lose  their  presence  of  mind,  if  they  talk  much 
standing ;  that  they  presently  grow  giddy,  fall  into  convul- 
sions, and  quite  lose  their  reason.  But  this  was  not  the 
reality,  for  he  would  willingly  have  stood  up  to  the  senate, 
had  not  Cornelius  Balbus,  one  of  his  friends,  or  rather 
flatterers,  hindered  him.  "  Will  you  not  remember,"  said 
he,  "you  are  Caesar,  and  claim  the  honor  which  is  due  to 
your  merit  ?  " 

He  gave  a  fresh  occasion  of  resentment  by  his  affront 
to  the  tribunes.  The  Lupercalia  were  then  celebrated,  a 
feast  at  the  first  institution  belonging,  as  some  writers  say, 
to  the  shepherds,  and  having  some  connection  with  the 
Arcadian  Lycsea.  Many  young  noblemen  and  magistrates 
run  up  and  down  the  city  with  their  upper  garments  off, 
striking  all  they  meet  with  thongs  of  hide,  by  way  of 
sport ;  and  many  women,  even  of  the  highest  rank,  place 
themselves  in  the  way,  and  hold  out  their  hands  to  the 
lash,  as  boys  in  the  school  do  to  the  master.  Csesar, 
dressed  in  a  triumphal  robe,  seated  himself  in  a  golden 
chair  on  the  rostra,  to  view  this  ceremony.  Antony,  as 
consul,  was  one  of  those  who  ran  this  course,  and  when 
he  came  into  the  forum,  and  the  people  made  way  for 
him,  he  went  up  and  reached  to  Caesar  a  diadem  wreathed 
with  laurel.  Upon  this,  there  was  a  shout,  but  only  a 
slight  one,  made  by  the  few  who  were  planted  there  for 


C^SAR.  313 

that  purpose ;  but  when  Caesar  refused  it,  there  was  uni- 
versal applause.  Upon  the  second  offer,  very  few,  and 
upon  the  second  refusal,  all  again  applauded.  Caesar  find- 
ing it  would  not  take,  rose  up,  and  ordered  the  crown  to 
be  carried  into  the  capitol.  Caesar's  statues  were  after- 
wards found  with  royal  diadems  on  their  heads.  Flavins 
and  Marullus,  two  tribunes  of  the  people,  went  presently 
and  pulled  them  off,  and  having  apprehended  those  who 
first  saluted  Caesar  as  king,  committed  them  to  prison. 
The  people  followed  them  with  acclamations,  and  called 
them  by  the  name  of  Brutus,  because  Brutus  was  the  first 
who  ended  the  succession  of  kings,  and  transferred  the 
power  which  before  was  lodged  in  one  man  into  the  hands 
of  the  senate  and  people.  Caesar  so  far  resented  this,  that 
he  displaced  Marullus  and  Flavins;  and  in  urging  his 
charges  against  them,  at  the  same  time  ridiculed  the  peo- 
ple, by  himself  giving  the  men  more  than  once  the  names 
of  Bruti  and  Cumaei.^  fy^ 

This  made  the  multitude  turn  their  thoughts  to  Marcus 
Brutus,  who,  by  his  father's  side,  was  thought  to  be  de- 
scended from  that  first  Brutus,  and  by  his  mother's  side, 
from  the  Servilii,  another  noble  family,  being  besides 
nephew  and  son-in-law  to  Cato.  But  the  honors  and 
favors  he  had  received  from  Caesar  took  off  the  edge  from 
the  desires  he  might  himself  have  felt  for  overthrowing 
the  new  monarchy.  For  he  liad  not  only  been  pardoned 
himself  after  Pompey's  defeat  at  Pharsalia,  and  had  pro- 
cured the  same  grace  for  many  of  his  friends,  but  was  one 
in  whom  Caesar  had  a  particular  confidence.  He  had  at 
that  time  the  most  honorable  praetorship  of  the  year,  and 

1  Brutus,  in  Latin,  means  heavy  and  stupid;  and  the  Cumaeans  were  for 
one  reason  or  other  proverbial  for  dulness. 


314  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

was  named  for  the  consulship  four  years  after,  being  pre- 
ferred before  Cassius,  his  competitor.  Upon  the  question 
as  to  the  choice,  Caesar,  it  is  related,  said  that  Cassius  had 
the  fairer  pretensions,  but  that  he  could  not  pass  by  Bru- 
tus. Nor  would  he  afterwards  listen  to  some  who  spoke 
against  Brutus,  when  the  conspiracy  against  him  was 
already  afoot,  but  laying  his  hand  on  his  body,  said  to  the 
informers,  "  Brutus  will  wait  for  this  skin  of  mine,"  inti- 
mating that  he  was  worthy  to  bear  rule  on  account  of  his 
virtue,  but  would  not  be  base  and  ungrateful  to  gain  it. 
Those  who  desired  a  change,  and  looked  on  him  as  the 
only,  or  at  least  the  most  proper,  person  to  effect  it,  did 
not  venture  to  speak  with  him ;  but  in  the  night-time  laid 
papers  about  his  chair  of  state,  where  he  used  to  sit  and 
determine  causes,  with  such  sentences  in  them  as,  "  You 
are  asleep,  Brutus,"  "You  are  no  longer  Brutus."  Cas- 
sius, when  he  perceived  his  ambition  a  little  raised  upon 
this,  was  more  instant  than  before  to  work  him  yet  further, 
having  himself  a  private  grudge  against  Csesar,  for  some 
reasons  that  we  have  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  Brutus. 
Nor  was  Caesar  without  suspicions  of  him,  and  said  once 
to  his  friends,  "What  do  you  think  Cassius  is  aiming  at? 
I  don't  like  him,  he  looks  so  pale."  And  when  it  was 
told  him  that  Antony  and  Dolabella  were  in  a  plot  against 
him,  he  said  he  did  not  fear  such  fat,  luxurious  men,  but 
rather  the  pale,  lean  fellows,  meaning  Cassius  and  Brutus. 
Fate,  however,  is  to  all  appearance  more  unavoidable 
than  unexpected.  For  many  strange  prodigies  and  ap- 
paritions are  said  to  have  been  observed  shortly  before  the 
event.  As  to  the  lights  in  the  heavens,  the  noises  heard 
in  the  night,  and  the  wild  birds  which  perched  in  the 
forum,  these  are  not  perhaps  worth  taking  notice  of  in  so 


CiESAR.  815 

great  a  case  as  this.  Strabo,  the  philosopher,  tells  us  that 
a  number  of  men  were  seen,  looking  as  if  they  were 
heated  through  with  fire,  contending  with  each  other; 
that  a  quantity  of  flame  issued  from  the  hand  of  a  soldier's 
servant,  so  that  they  who  saw  it  thought  he  must  be 
burnt,  but  that  after  all  he  had  no  hurt.  As  Csesar  was 
sacrificing,  the  victim's  heart  was  missing,  a  very  bad 
omen,  because  no  living  creature  can  subsist  without  a 
heart.  One  finds  it  also  related  by  many,  that  a  sooth- 
sayer bade  him  prepare  for  some  great  danger  on  the  ides 
of  March.  When  the  day  was  come,  Caesar,  as  he  went  to 
the  senate,  met  this  soothsayer,  and  said  to  him  by  way  of 
raillery,  "  The  ides  of  March  are  come  " ;  who  answered 
him  calmly,  "Yes,  they  are  come,  but  they  are  not  passed." 
The  day  before  this  assassination,  he  supped  with  Marcus 
Lepidus ;  and  as  he  was  signing  some  letters,  according  to 
his  custom,  as  he  reclined  at  table,  there  arose  a  question 
what  sort  of  death  was  best.  At  which  he  immediately, 
before  any  one  could  speak,  said,  "  A  sudden  one." 

After  this,  when  he  was  in  bed,  all  the  doors  and  win- 
dows of  the  house  flew  open  together ;  he  was  startled  at 
the  noise,  and  the  light  which  broke  into  the  room,  and 
sat  up  in  his  bed,  where  by  the  moonshine  he  perceived 
his  wife,  Calpurnia,  fast  asleep,  but  heard  her  utter  in  her 
dream  some  indistinct  words  and  inarticulate  groans. 
She  fancied  at  that  time  she  was  weeping  over  Csesar, 
and  holding  him  butchered  in  her  arms.  Others  say  this 
was  not  her  dream,  but  that  she  dreamed  that  a  pinnacle 
which  the  senate,  as  Livy  relates,  had  ordered  to  be  raised 
on  Caesar's  house  by  way  of  ornament  and  grandeur,  was 
tumbling  down,  which  was  the  occasion  of  her  tears  and 
Ides  of  March :  the  fifteenth. 


316  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

ejaculations.  When  it  was  day,  she  begged  of  Caesar,  if 
it  were  possible,  not  to  stir  out,  but  to  adjourn  the  senate 
to  another  time ;  and  if  he  slighted  her  dreams,  that  he 
would  be  pleased  to  consult  his  fate  by  sacrifices,  and 
other  kinds  of  divination.  Nor  was  he  himself  without 
some  suspicion  and  fears ;  for  he  never  before  discovered 
any  womanish  superstition  in  Calpurnia,  whom  he  now 
saw  in  such  great  alarm.  Upon  the  report  which  the 
priests  made  to  him,  that  they  had  killed  several  sacrifices, 
and  still  found  them  inauspicious,  he  resolved  to  send 
Antony  to  dismiss  the  senate. 

In  this  juncture,  Decimus  Brutus,  surnamed  Albinus, 
one  whom  Caesar  had  such  confidence  in  that  he  made 
him  his  second  heir,  who  nevertheless  was  engaged  in  the 
conspiracy  with  the  other  Brutus  and  Cassius,  fearing  lest 
if  Caesar  should  put  off  the  senate  to  another  day  the 
business  might  get  wind,  spoke  scoffingly  and  in  mockery 
of  the  diviners,  and  blamed  Caesar  for  giving  the  senate 
so  fair  an  occasion  of  saying  he  had  put  a  slight  upon 
them,  for  that  they  were  met  upon  his  summons,  and 
were  ready  to  vote  unanimously,  that  he  should  be  de- 
clared king  of  all  the  provinces  out  of  Italy,  and  might 
wear  a  diadem  in  any  other  place  but  Italy,  by  sea  or 
land.  If  any  one  should  be  sent  to  tell  them  they  might 
break  up  for  the  present,  and  meet  again  when  Calpurnia 
should  chance  to  have  better  dreams,  what  would  his 
enemies  say  ?  Or  who  would  with  any  patience  hear  his 
friends,  if  they  should  presume  to  defend  his  government 
as  not  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  ?  But  if  he  was  possessed 
so  far  as  to  think  this  day  unfortunate,  yet  it  were  more 
decent  to  go  himself  to  the  senate,  and  to  adjourn  it  in 
his  own  person.     Brutus,  as  he  spoke  these  words,  took 


CiESAR.  317 

Caesar  by  the  hand,  and  conducted  him  forth.  He  was 
not  gone  far  from  the  door,  when  a  servant  of  some  other 
person's  made  towards  him,  but  not  being  able  to  come 
up  to  him,  on  account  of  the  crowd  of  those  who  pressed 
about  him,  he  made  his  way  into  the  house,  and  committed 
himself  to  Calpurnia,  begging  of  her  to  secure  him  till 
Caesar  returned,  because  he  had  matters  of  great  impor- 
tance to  communicate  to  him. 

Artemidorus,  a  Cnidian,  a  teacher  of  Greek  logic,  and 
by  that  means  so  far  acquainted  with  Brutus  and  his 
friends  as  to  have  got  into  the  secret,  brought  Caesar  in  a 
small  written  memorial  the  heads  of  what  he  had  to  de- 
pose. He  had  observed  that  Caesar,  as  he  received  any 
papers,  presently  gave  them  to  the  servants  who  attended 
on  him ;  and  therefore  came  as  near  to  him  as  he  could, 
and  said,  "Read  this,  Caesar,  alone,  and  quickly,  for  it 
contains  matter  of  great  importance  which  nearly  con- 
cerns you."  Caesar  received  it,  and  tried  several  times 
to  read  it,  but  was  still  hindered  by  the  crowd  of  those 
who  came  to  speak  to  him.  However,  he  kept  it  in  his 
hand  by  itself  till  he  came  into  the  senate.  Some  say  it 
was  another  who  gave  Caesar  this  note,  and  that  Artemi- 
dorus could  not  get  to  him,  being  all  along  kept  off  by 
the  crowd.  ^/  Z 

All  these  things  might  happen  by  chance.  But  the 
place  which  was  destined  for  the  scene  of  this  murder,  in 
which  the  senate  met  that  day,  was  the  same  in  which 
Pompey's  statue  stood,  and  was  one  of  the  edifices  which 
Pompey  had  raised  and  dedicated  with  his  theatre  to  the 
use  of  the  public,  plainly  showing  that  there  was  some- 
thing of  a  supernatural  influence  which  guided  the  action, 
and  ordered  it  to  that  particular  place.    Cassius,  just  before 


818  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

the  act,  is  said  to  have  looked  towards  Pompey's  statue, 
and  silently  implored  his  assistance,  though  he  had  been 
inclined  to  the  doctrines  of  Epicurus.  But  this  occasion 
and  the  instant  danger,  carried  him  away  out  of  all  his 
reasonings,  and  filled  him  for  the  time  with  a  sort  of  in- 
spiration. As  for  Antony,  who  was  firm  to  Caesar,  and  a 
strong  man,  Brutus  Albinus  kept  him  outside  the  house, 
and  delayed  him  with  a  long  conversation  contrived  on 
purpose.  When  Caesar  entered,  the  senate  stood  up  to 
show  their  respect  to  him,  and  of  Brutus'  confederates, 
some  came  about  his  chair  and  stood  behind  it,  others  met 
him,  pretending  to  add  their  petitions  to  those  of  Tillius 
Cimber,  in  behalf  of  his  brother,  who  was  in  exile ;  and 
they  followed  him  with  their  joint  supplications  till  he 
came  to  his  seat.  When  he  was  sat  down,  he  refused  to 
comply  with  their  requests,  and  upon  their  urging  him 
further,  began  to  reproach  them  severally  for  their  impor- 
tunities, when  Tillius,  laying  hold  of  his  robe  with  both 
his  hands,  pulled  it  down  from  his  neck,  which  was  the 
signal  for  the  assault.  Casca  gave  him  the  first  cut,  in 
the  neck,  which  was  not  mortal  nor  dangerous,  as  coming 
from  one  who  at  the  beginning  of  such  a  bold  action  was 
probably  very  much  disturbed.  Csesar  immediately  turned 
about,  and  laid  his  hand  upon  the  dagger  and  kept  hold 
of  it.  And  both  of  them  at  the  same  time  cried  out,  he 
that  received  the  blow,  in  Latin,  "  Vile  Casca,  what  does 
this  mean  ?  "  and  he  that  gave  it,  in  Greek,  to  his  brother, 
"  Brother,  help  !  "  Upon  this  first  onset,  those  who  were 
not  privy  to  the  design  were  astonished,  and  their  horror 
and  amazement  at  what  they  saw  were  so  great,  that  they 

Doctrines  of  Epicurus  :  Epicurus  taught  that  man  does  not  live  beyond 
the  grave  ;  hence  an  Epicurean  would  not  appeal  to  Pompey's  spirit.    M. 


C^SAR.  319 

durst  not  fly  nor  assist  Caesar,  nor  so  much  as  speak  a 
word.  But  those  who  came  prepared  for  the  business  in- 
closed him  on  every  side,  with  their  naked  daggers  in  their 
hands.  Which  way  soever  he  turned,  he  met  with  blows, 
and  saw  their  swords  levelled  at  his  face  and  eyes,  and  was 
encompassed,  like  a  wild  beast  in  the  toils,  on  every  side. 
For  it  had  been  agreed  they  should  each  of  them  make  a 
thrust  at  him,  and  flesh  themselves  with  his  blood;  for 
which  reason  Brutus  also  gave  him  one  stab  in  the  groin. 
Some  say  that  he  fought  and  resisted  all  the  rest,  shifting 
his  body  to  avoid  the  blows,  and  calling  out  for  help,  but 
that  when  he  saw  Brutus'  sword  drawn,  he  covered  his 
face  with  his  robe  and  submitted,  letting  himself  fall, 
whether  it  were  by  chance,  or  that  he  was  pushed  in  that 
direction  by  his  murderers,  at  the  foot  of  the  pedestal  on 
which  Pompey's  statue  stood,  and  which  was  thus  wetted 
with  his  blood.  So  that  Pompey  himself  seemed  to  have 
presided,  as  it  were,  over  the  revenge  done  upon  his  ad- 
versary, who  lay  here  at  his  feet,  and  breathed  out  his  soul 
through  his  multitude  of  wounds,  for  they  say  he  received 
three  and  twenty.  And  the  conspirators  themselves  were 
many  of  them  wounded  by  each  other,  whilst  they  all 
levelled  their  blows  at  the  same  person. 

When  Csesar  was  dispatched,  Brutus  stood  forth  to  give 
a  reason  for  what  they  had  done,  but  the  senate  would 
not  hear  him,  but  flew  out  of  doors  in  all  haste,  and  filled 
the  people  with  so  much  alarm  and  distraction,  that  some 
shut  up  their  houses,  others  left  their  counters  and  shops. 
All  ran  one  way  or  the  other,  some  to  the  place  to  see  the 
sad  spectacle,  others  back  again  after  they  had  seen  it. 
Antony  and  Lepidus,  Caesar's  most  faithful  friends,  got 
off  privately,  and  hid  themselves  in  some  friends'  houses. 


320  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

Brutus  and  his  followers,  being  yet  hot  from  the  deed, 
'marched  in  a  body  from  the  senate-house  to  the  capitol 
with  their  drawn  swords,  not  like  persons  who  thought  of 
escaping,  but  with  an  air  of  confidence  and  assurance,  and 
as  they  went  along,  called  to  the  people  to  resume  their 
liberty,  and  invited  the  company  of  any  more  distinguished 
people  whom  they  met.  And  some  of  these  joined  the 
procession  and  went  up  along  with  them,  as  if  they  also 
had  been  of  the  conspiracy,  and  could  claim  a  share  in  the 
honor  of  what  had  been  done.  As,  for  example,  Caius 
Octavius  and  Lentulus  Spinther,  who  suffered  afterwards 
for  their  vanity,  being  taken  off  by  Antony  and  the  young 
Caesar,  and  lost  the  honor  they  desired,  as  well  as  tlieir 
lives,  which  it  cost  them,  since  no  one  believed  they  had 
any  share  in  the  action.  For  neither  did  those  who  pun- 
ished them  profess  to  revenge  the  fact,  but  the  ill-will. 
The  day  after,  Brutus  with  the  rest  came  down  from  the 
capitol,  and  made  a  speech  to  the  people,  who  listened 
without  expressing  either  any  pleasure  or  resentment,  but 
showed  by  their  silence  that  they  pitied  Caesar,  and  re- 
spected Brutus.  The  senate  passed  acts  of  oblivion  for 
what  was  passed,  and  took  measures  to  reconcile  all  par- 
ties. They  ordered  that  Caesar  should  be  worshipped  as  a 
divinity,  and  nothing,  even  of  the  slightest  consequence, 
should  be  revoked,  which  he  had  enacted  during  his  gov- 
ernment. At  the  same  time  they  gave  Brutus  and  his 
followers  the  command  of  provinces,  and  other  consider- 
able posts.  So  that  all  people  now  thought  things  were 
well  settled,  and  brought  to  the  happiest  adjustment. 

But  when  Caesar's  will  was  opened,  and  it  was  found 
that  he  had  left  a  considerable  legacy  to  each  one  of  the 
Roman    citizens,   and   when   his   body  was   seen   carried 


C^SAR.  321 

through  the  market-place,  all  mangled  with  wounds,  the 
multitude  could  no  longer  contain  themselves  within  the 
bounds  of  tranquillity  and  order,  but  heaped  together  a 
pile  of  benches,  bars,  and  tables,  which  they  placed  the 
corpse  on,  and  setting  fire  to  it,  burnt  it  on  them.  Then 
they  took  brands  from  the  pile,  and  ran  some  to  fire  the 
houses  of  the  conspirators,  others  up  and  down  the  city, 
to  find  out  the  men  and  tear  them  to  pieces,  but  met, 
however,  with  none  of  them,  they  having  taken  efi'ectual 
care  to  secure  themselves. 

One  Cinna,  a  friend  of  Caesar's,  chanced  the  night  before 
to  have  an  odd  dream.  He  fancied  that  Caesar  invited 
him  to  supper,  and  that  upon  his  refusal  to  go  with 
him,  Caesar  took  him  by  the  hand  and  forced  him,  though 
he  hung  back.  Upon  hearing  the  report  that  Caesar's 
body  was  burning  in  the  market-place,  he  got  up  and 
went  thither,  lout  of  respect  to  his  memory,  though  his 
dream  gave  him  some  ill  apprehensions,  and  though  he 
was  suffering  from  a  fever.  One  of  the  crowd  who  saw 
him  there,  asked  another  who  that  was,  and  having 
learned  his  name,  told  it  to  his  next  neighbor.  It  pres- 
ently passed  for  a  certainty  that  he  was  one  of  Caesar's 
murderers,  as,  indeed,  there  was  another  Cinna,  a  conspir- 
ator, and  they,  taking  this  to  be  the  man,  immediately 
seized  him,  and  tore  him  limb  from  limb  upon  the  spot. 

Brutus  and  Cassius,  frightened  at  this,  within  a  few 
days  retired  out  of  the  city.  What  they  afterwards  did 
and  suffered,  and  how  they  died,  is  written  in  the  Life 
of  Brutus.  Caesar  died  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  not  hav- 
ing survived  Pompey  above  four  years.  That  empire  and 
power  which  he  had  pursued  through  the  whole  course 
of  his  life  with  so  much  hazard,  he  did  at  last  with  much 


322  PLUTARCH'S   LIVES. 

difficulty  compass,  but  reaped  no  other  fruits  from  it  than 
the  empty  name  and  invidious  glory.  But  the  great 
genius  which  attended  him  through  his  lifetime,  even 
after  his  death,  remained  as  the  avenger  of  his  murder, 
pursuing  through  every  sea  and  land  all  those  who  were 
concerned  in  it,  and  suffering  none  to  escape,  but  reach- 
ing all  who  in  any  sort  or  kind  were  either  actually 
engaged  in  the  fact,  or  by  their  counsels  any  way  pro- 
moted it. 

The  most  remarkable  of  mere  human  coincidences  was 
that  which  befell  Cassius,  who,  when  he  was  defeated  at 
Philippi,  killed  himself  with  the  same  dagger  which  he 
had  made  use  of  against  Caesar.  But  above  all,  the  phan- 
tom which  appeared  to  Brutus  showed  the  murder  was 
iiot  pleasing  to  the  gods.     The  story  of  it  is  this  :  — 

Brutus,  being  about  to  pass  his  army  from  Abydos  to  the 
continent  on  the  other  side,  laid  himself  dowTi  one  night,  as 
he  used  to  do,  in  his  tent,  and  was  not  asleep,  but  think- 
ing of  his  affairs  and  what  events  he  might  expect.  For 
he  is  related  to  have  been  the  least  inclined  to  sleep  of  all 
men  who  have  commanded  armies,  and  to  have  had  the 
greatest  natural  capacity  for  continuing  awake,  and  em- 
ploying himself  without  need  of  rest.  He  thought  he 
heard  a  noise  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  and  looking  that 
way,  by  the  light  of  his  lamp,  which  was  almost  out,  saw 
a  terrible  figure,  like  that  of  a  man,  but  of  unusual  stature 
and  severe  countenance.  He  was  somewhat  frightened 
at  first,  but  seeing  it  neither  did  nor  spoke  anything  to 
him,  and  only  stood  silently  by  his  bedside,  he  asked  who  it 
wasc  The  spectre  answered  him,  "Thy  evil  genius,  Bru- 
tus, thou  shalt  see  me  at  Philippi."  Brutus  answered 
courageously,  "Well,  I  shall  see  you,"  and  immediately 


C^SAR.  323 

the  appearance  vanished.  When  the  time  was  come,  he 
drew  up  his  army  near  Philippi  against  Antony  and 
Caesar,  and  in  the  first  battle  won  the  day,  routed  the 
enemy,  and  plundered  Caesar's  camp.  The  night  before 
the  second  battle,  the  same  phantom  appeared  to  him 
again,  but  spqj^e  not  a  word.  He  presently  understood 
his  destiny  was  at  hand,  and  exposed  himself  to  all  the 
danger  of  the  battle.  Yet  he  did  not  die  in  the  fight,  but 
seeing  his  men  defeated,  got  up  to  the  top  of  a  rock,  and 
there  presenting  his  sword  to  his  naked  breast,  and  as- 
sisted, as  they  say,  by  a  friend,  who  helped  him  to  give 
the  thrust,  met  his  death. 


INDEXES. 


INDEX  TO   NOTES. 


(By  D.  H.  M.) 


[The  Numbers  Refer  to  Pages,] 


Achilles,  82. 

Adventitious  implements,  122. 

^dile,  256. 

Alexandria,  Canals  of,  302. 

Amazon,  69. 

Amphictyonic  Council,  25. 

Antipater,  77. 

Apollo,  81. 

Appian  Way,  256. 

Arable,  134. 

Arclion,  45. 

Areopagus,  45. 

Aristides  and  Themistocles,  41. 

Artemisius,  83, 

Athene,  14. 

Bacchus,  80. 

Barbarian,  19. 

Barbarous  songs,  12. 

Battle  of  Marathon,  6. 

Belus,  87. 

Birdlime,  124. 

Blest,  Islands  of  the,  223. 

Brutus,  Meaning  of  the  name,  313. 

Buckler,  83. 

Bullae,  232. 

Cabals,  156. 

Canals  of  Alexandria,  302. 

Candidates,  137. 


Castor  and  Pollux,  124 

Celtic  dress,  216. 

Centuries,  145. 

Cimbri  and  Teutones,  216. 

Cisalpine  Gaul,  218. 

Clients,  135. 

Cohort,  261. 

Consuls,  126. 

Corn,  134. 

Cubit,  35. 

Cuirass,  83. 

Darius  III.,  82. 

Diana,  70. 

Dictator,  123. 

Divined  from  birds,  160. 

Doctrines  of  Epicurus,  318. 

Drachma,  54. 

Dress,  Celtic,  216. 

Eagle,  192. 

Elysian  Fields,  224. 

Ensigns,  191. 

Ephors,  23. 

Epicurus,  Doctrines  of,  318. 

Faction,  169. 
Fasces,  180. 
Fields,  Elysian,  224. 
Forum,  124. 


828 


INDEX  TO  NOTES. 


Franchises,  158. 
Furlongs,  102. 

Galley,  Sacred,  11. 
Games,  Olympic,  8. 
Gaul,  Cisalpine,  218. 
Gladiator,  256. 
Gorget,  96. 

Hind,  226. 
Homer's  IliaJ,  75. 
Horse,  Wooden,  214. 
Hustings,  24. 

Ides  of  March,  815. 

Iliad,  75. 

Imperator,  242. 

Ink  Fish,  16. 

Islands  of  the  Blest,  223. 

Jupiter  Capitolinus,  162. 

Largess,  45. 
Legion,  188. 
Libations,  82. 
Lictors,  180. 
Lustration,  296. 
Lyra,  311. 

Macedonian  Phalanx,  84. 
Marathon,  Battle  of,  6. 
March,  Ides  of,  315. 
Mercenary  Greeks,  84. 
Minerva,  or  Athene,  14. 
Mistletoe,  123. 
Myriads,  301. 
Mysteries,  79. 

Oligarchy,  24. 
Olympian,  43. 


Olympic  Games,  8. 
Oracle,  14. 
Ostracism,  9. 

Pancratium,  72. 
Panegyric,  253. 
Patricians,  128. 
Pausanias,  76. 
Pedagogue,  182. 
Phalanx,  84. 
Philotas,  77. 
Plebeians,  134. 
Pollution,  60. 
Pollux,  124. 
Pontifical,  160. 
Prastor,  179. 
Prerogative,  145. 
Proconsul,  200. 
Propitiate,  180. 
Purified,  199. 

Quaestors,  242. 

Razed,  78. 

Revenue  Farmers,  246. 

Rhapsodists,  72. 

Romans,  The,  reclined  at  table,  248. 

Rostra,  311. 

Sabines,  163. 
Sacked  and  razed,  78. 
Sacred  Galley,  11. 
Seditious,  127. 
Soothsayers,  71. 
Sophist,  39. 
Suborn,  168. 
Suffrages,  59. 

Table,  Romans  reclined  at,  248. 
Talent,  12. 


INDEX  TO  NOTES. 


329 


Tarpeian  Rock,  143. 

Teles,  62. 

Tetrarch,  303. 

Teutones,  216. 

Themistocles,  41. 

Thirty-three  hundred  furlongs,  102. 

Thirty  Tyrants,  24. 

Toga,  136. 

Tribes,  145. 


Triumph,  177. 
Tunic,  136. 
Tutelar,  156. 
Tyrant,  41. 

Van,  184. 

Veni,  vidi,  vici,  303. 

Wooden  Horse,  214. 


INDEX   OF  PROPER  NAMES, 

WITH    THEIR   PRONUNCIATION. 


(By  D.  H.  M.) 

Note.  —  E  in  finales  is  pronounced  long,  e.g.  Alcibiades  (Al-ci-bi'-a-deez).     Ch  has 
the  sound  of  k,  e.g.  Archidamus  (Ark-i-da'-mus).     Chceronea  (Ker-o-ne'-a). 


Aby^dos,  322. 

Acestodo^rus,  18. 

Achar^nse,  28,  61. 

Actse^n,  214. 

Adme^tus,  28. 

M^gse,  29. 

^gi^na,  21,  23,  62. 

iEne^as,  156. 

JEo^ia,  29. 

Albi^nus,  316,  318. 

Alcibi^ades,  64. 

Alexan^der,  70. 

Alexandri^a,  300. 

Alexandrop'^olis,  76. 

Anaxag^oras,  39,  40,  42,  65,  56,  59. 

Anie^nus,  310. 

Anthe^mion,  137. 

Antia^tes,  136,  144,  146. 

Antip^ater,  77,  99,  104. 

Antiph^ates,  22. 

An^ytus,  137. 

Aph^etse,  11. 

Archida^mus,  43,  60. 

ArchitMes,  11,  12. 

Areop^'agus,  45. 

Ariam^enes,  19. 

Arim^inum,  284,  285. 

AristiMes,  5,  9,  15,  17,  18,  20,  21.     ' 


Aristobu^lus,  87. 
Aristoph^anes,  24. 
Ar^naces,  20. 
Artaba'^nus,  30,  31. 
Artemido^'rus,  317. 
Artemis^ium,  10,  12. 
Aufid^ius,  148,  247. 
Au^fidus,  194. 

Bset^ica,  228. 
Beller^ophon,  162. 
Boeo^tia,  10,  13. 
Bu^teo,  187. 

C^^pio,  216,  263. 
Cse^sar,  251. 
Caius  (Ka^yus),  121. 
Cala^iius,  112. 
Callis^thenes,  97,  98. 
Calpur^nia,  315,  316,  317. 
Calpur^nius,  222,  263. 
Canin^ius,  309. 
Casi^num,  182. 
Cau^casus,  310. 
Cethe^gus,  258. 
Chaerone^a,  79. 
Charide^mus,  215. 
Circae^um,  155, 


3eS2 


INDEX  OF  PROPER  NAMES. 


Cnid^ian  (Nid^ian),  317. 
Comin^ius,  128,  129,  130,  131,  132, 

133. 
Corcy^ra,  27. 
CorMuba,  267. 
Coriola^nus,  121. 
Cori^oli,  128,  129,  130,  133. 
Corone^a,  57. 
Cosco^nius,  303. 
Cyz^icus,  34. 

Dari^us,  7. 
Demara^tus,  33. 
Dia^na,  70,  227. 
Dindyme^ne,  35. 

Elpini^ce,  46,  47. 
Epic^rates,  28. 
Epicu^rus,  318. 
Epicy^des,  9,  10. 
Epi^rus,  28,  290. 
Ere^tria,  16. 
EuboeX  12. 
Eu^menes,  215. 
Euphe^mides,  9. 
Eurybi^ades,  11,  15,  16. 
Exa^thres,  103. 

Fa^bius,  176. 
Flamin^ius,  178,  179. 
Fufid^us,  228. 

Gly^con,  59. 
Graci^nus,  247. 
GranKcus,  82,  83. 

Har^palus,  75. 
Hephaes^tion,  116. 
Hermip^pus,  62. 
Herodotus,  11,  21. 
Hydas^pes,  106,  107. 


Ibe^rus,  174. 

Langobri^tae,  (?)  230. 
Laom^edon,  214. 
Lati^nus,  150,  151. 
Lavi^ci,  155. 
Leob^otes,  26. 
Leonna^tus,  91,  99. 
Lycae^a,  312. 
Lycome-'des,  19. 

Mar^cius,  121. 

Ma^rius,  212,  213, 216, 217, 218,  219. 

Mazae^us,  96. 

Meg^ara,  18,  296. 

MKeza,  74, 

Milti^ades,  6,  7. 

MnesiptoKema  (NesiptoFema),  35. 

Near^'chus,  116. 
Ne^cles,  4. 
Nicog^enes,  29,  30,  32. 
Nicome^des,  252. 
Norba^nus,  220. 
Nur^sia,  216. 

Ol^bius,  29. 
Onesic-'ritus,  113. 
Or^icum,  290. 
Ori^tes,  113. 

Pag^asae,  24,  25. 

Pausa^nias,  26,  27. 

PeFagon,  11. 

Perco^te,  34. 

Per^gamus,  253. 

Per^icles,  39. 

Perpen^na,  232,  233,  246,  247,  248. 

Peuces^tes,  101,  110. 

Phale^rum,  16. 


INDEX  OF  PROPER  NAMES. 


333 


Phanode^mus,  18. 
Pharmacu^sa,  252. 
Phase^is,  86. 
Philo^tas,  77,  100. 
Phthi^a  (Thi^a),  28. 
Pin^arus,  90. 
Pirae^us,  24. 
Pisis^tratus,  41. 
Pityu^ssa,  (?)  223. 
Plat^^a,  21. 
Poliar/chus,  23. 
Polym^achus,  113. 
Polys^tratus,  103. 
PopiFius,  255. 
Poplic^la,  162,  163, 
Posido^nius,  200. 
Pothi^nus,  300,  301,  302. 
Py^os,  137. 

Rhe^a,  216. 
Rhoe^saces,  84. 

SaFamis,  20. 

Salina^tor,  222. 

Sci^athus,  11. 

Seri^phus,  22, 

Serto^rius,  214. 

Sicin^nius,  128,  135  142,  144. 

Sic^innus,  17,  18. 

Sino^pe,  80. 

Sisimith^res,  105. 


Spithrida^tes,  84. 
Stati^ra,  113. 
Stesila^us,  5. 

Tan^agra,  45. 
Tax^iles,  105. 
Te^nos,  18. 
Theag^enes,  79. 
Therais^tocles,  4. 
Theodec^tes,  86. 
Theod^otus,  300. 
Thora^nius,  228. 
Thras^ymene,  178. 
Tiguri^ni,  268. 
Timocle^a,  78. 
Tole^ria,  155. 
ToKmides,  56,  57. 
Torqua^tus,  187. 
Tre^bia,  177,  178. 

Yale^ria,  162,  163,  164. 
Vale^rius,  126,  268. 
Veil  (Ve^yi),  171. 
VePitrse,  134,  135. 
Vellu^tus,  128. 
Venu^sia,  196. 
VergiKia,  163,  164,  165. 
Volum^nia,  125,  163,  164,  165. 

Zele^a,  10. 


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